Wednesday, 18th August 1915: Lynching Of Frank Will Be Probed To Bottom, Says Harris, The Atlanta Journal

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Governor Nat E. Harris stated Wednesday that he will make every effort within his power to ascertain the identity of the men composing the mob that took Leo M. Frank from the State Prison Farm and lynched him in Cobb County, near Marietta, and to bring them to justice for their act.

"I am inexpressibly shocked," said the Governor. "This affair places a blot upon the fair name of our State that can never be wiped out. The lynching will be probed to the bottom and every effort within my power will be made to bring the members of the mob to justice. At the proper time, I will offer suitable rewards for the arrest and conviction of the men, and I will urge the judge, the solicitor and the sheriff to make diligent effort to apprehend them."

The Governor cut short his visit to the Reunion of the Confederate Veterans of Georgia at Fitzgerald and returned to Atlanta Tuesday night, in order to begin his investigation of the lynching without delay.

He will first hold a conference with the members of the Prison Commission to determine whether the officials and guards at the State Prison Farm should be held responsible for allowing the mob to take Frank out of their hands. He will also undertake, if possible, to obtain from the officials and guards some description of the men composing the mob. Then he will direct his attention to the apprehension of the guilty parties.

This conference with the Prison Commission probably cannot be arranged before Thursday morning, as only one member of the Commission, E. L. Rainey, is in the city. The other two, R. E. Davison and T. E. Patterson, are expected to arrive either late Wednesday afternoon or early Thursday morning.

Mr. Rainey stated to The Journal, Wednesday morning, that the officials at the State Prison Farm should not be held responsible for the removal of Frank, nor, he added, could the Prison Commissioners, who were at the farm, be held responsible.

"The mob took everybody completely by surprise and nobody had a chance to resist," Mr. Rainey declared.

The body of Leo M. Frank is now on its way to Brooklyn for funeral and interment.

The body left Atlanta at 12:01 o'clock Wednesday morning on Southern Passenger Train No. 36. With the body went Mrs. Frank; Alex Marcus, her brother-in-law; Rabbi David Marx, the family pastor; Herbert Haas and Harry Alexander, friends of Frank and attorneys in his case.

The body will be taken to the home of Frank's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Frank, in Brooklyn, and all arrangements for the funeral and interment will be made there.

Before leaving Atlanta, the body was viewed by thousands of people Tuesday afternoon at the undertaking establishment of Greenberg & Bond at the corner of Houston and Ivy Streets.

The police made the crowd pass through in single file, entering through the front door and going out through the back door, and no person was allowed to pause beside the body.

Captain Dobbs was in charge of the police. He told the crowd early in the afternoon that the doors would be closed at 7 o'clock in order to give the undertakers an opportunity to prepare the body for shipment.

Chief Mayo was also present much of the time that the body was being viewed and counseled his men in reference to handling the crowd.

Mayor Pro Tem Ragsdale also went to the scene and addressed the crowd, urging them to be quiet and orderly and to pass through rapidly so that as many as possible could be accommodated before the doors closed.

Acting Mayor I. N. Ragsdale received several complaints Wednesday from people who objected to the sale of post cards showing Frank's body on the rope.

Mr. Ragsdale made an investigation of the law on the subject and found that the sale of the pictures, after a person had obtained a license for that purpose, could not be stopped.

Postcards bearing pictures of the Frank lynching cannot be sent through the mail. The local post office is destroying all such cards mailed here.

This action was taken under the section of the postal regulations which bars libelous and indecent matter on postcards and the outside of envelopes and wrappers.

The local office ruled that pictures of a lynching would constitute indecent matter.

Persons violating this section are liable to prosecution, but as the names of the senders are not generally disclosed, the cards are destroyed as received.

(By Associated Press.) SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18. In an address yesterday to the San Francisco Center of the California Civic League, Former Governor John M. Slaton of Georgia, who commuted the death sentence of Leo M. Frank to life imprisonment, declared he would prefer to have Frank lynched by a mob than to have him hanged by judicial mistake, because "one reached the soul of civilization, the other merely reached the body."

Mr. Slaton's address, devoted almost entirely to discussion of the Frank case and the lynching of Frank, was delivered in the presence of a majority of members of the California Supreme Court and other prominent persons, members of the league.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga., Aug. 17. Prison officials here are held to be without blame for the situation arising from the taking of Leo M. Frank from the principal state penal institution by a mob numbering about twenty-five men, in a statement given out by R. E. Davison, Chairman of the State Prison Commission. Mr. Davison, with the other two members of the body, Commissioners Rainey and Patterson, were here to inspect the penitentiary when Frank was taken away.

The Prison Commission has full power, not excepting that vested in the Governor, to conduct or order any investigation, that it may deem fit.

Mr. Davison is accredited with the statement that as the mob worked so quickly and was so well organized and immediately upon its arrival at the prison so completely controlled the situation that "no responsibility rested upon either the Commission or anybody at the farm."

Some comment was heard here as to why the mob had to deal with only five men"the warden, the superintendent, two guards and a "trusty" in charge at a gate.

That Warden J. E. Smith and Superintendent J. M. Burke were powerless with facilities they had at hand when the mob arrived is not questioned here. Burke says the mob completed its work at the prison in five minutes; Smith says five or six minutes.

First all wires were cut at the prison. Then Warden Smith was made prisoner of a part of the mob while another squad handcuffed Burke and led him to the gate they wished to enter. A command to the "trusty" to open the gate was demurred to, but a threat to kill him if it was not opened immediately quickly gave the mob easy access to the inside. As the gate was opened, a guard came up. He was overpowered. Another guard was encountered, but was soon at the mercy of the mob. Frank was grabbed by five men, according to most reports, hurried outside and thrust into the tonneau of an automobile along with a long rope that was dangled in front of his eyes.

He did not utter a word. An occasional groan escaped his lips, but no word. What he said, if anything, during the five or six-hour trip from Milledgeville to the outskirts of Marietta probably never will be known.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18. Secretary of the Navy Daniels last night issued a formal statement denouncing the lynching of Leo M. Frank as the worst blot on the name of Georgia and declaring it would be more sincerely condemned in the South than in any other part of the Republic. The statement follows:"I am shocked beyond expression at the lawlessness of the Georgia Mob. It is the worst blot upon the name of the State. Every good Citizen must deplore it. It will be denounced more sincerely in the South than in any other part of the Republic. The great bulk of Southern people know that such instances, perpetrated by the few and indorsed by a small minority, work injury to their Section."

Secretary Daniels Deplores

Lynching of Leo M. Frank

(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga., Aug. 18. Milledgeville, always probably one of the quietest towns in Georgia, has completely recovered from the excitement of Monday night and Tuesday morning incident to the taking of Leo M. Frank from the State Penitentiary here. Ordinarily no unusual conditions would have been noticed here Tuesday but scores of autoists coming from all the surrounding Sections considerably swelled the population and the groups of considerable size discussing the situation, while others visited the prison building from which he was taken.

Conditions at the Prison Farm presented the routine aspect Tuesday with little excitement evidenced among any of the Prisoners. Milledgeville Wednesday has assumed its normal aspect.

WARDEN SMITH TALKS.

Warden J.E. Smith, of the State Prison here, said today that he knew of nothing he could do that would aid in whatever Investigation might be made of the kidnapping of Leo M. Frank from the Prison on Monday night.

"I don't know of anything I can do, do you?" Mr. Smith said. "The Mob overpowered me and everyone connected with the Prison that stood in its way. The work was done too quickly, and we were taken too much by surprise to offer resistance."

"I am very glad Members of the Prison Commission were here when the attack occurred. Two of them told me no one at the Prison was to blame."

Several persons went to the Prison yesterday to ascertain definitely the movements of the Mob. Conditions were normal at the Prison today.

"The public is entitled to all Facts in this Case, and if any have been hidden, I would gladly give them out. The Newspapers have told the story correctly, as far as I know, and have covered every detail. There is nothing left in my knowledge to be brought out at an Investigation."

A number of persons went to the Prison yesterday to definitely ascertain the exact movements of the Mob. Warden Smith said they all were orderly. Prison routine was being performed today as if nothing had happened, he added.

Little Interest Manifested

as Body Passes Through State

CHARLOTTE, N. C., Aug. 18. The body of Leo M. Frank, the noted Georgia Prisoner, who was kidnapped from the State Farm and put to death by a Mob near the home of his alleged victim, Mary Phagan, early yesterday morning, was on board a Southern Railway Train passing here at 10 o'Clock this morning En Route to Brooklyn for burial. The body was accompanied by Mrs. Frank and her brother, Rabbi David I. Marx, A.E. Marcus, H.A. Alexander and Herbert Haas, the last two named being Atlanta Attorneys who defended Frank through the Courts.

According to Members of the Train Crew little interest was attached to the trip through Georgia and only a small crowd of curious was present in this City while the Train remained here.

Mrs. Frank refused to see Newspaper Men.

No Funeral Arrangements

Yet Made in New York

(By Associated Press.)

NEW YORK, Aug. 18. No Arrangements have as yet been made for the Funeral of Leo M. Frank, whose body is expected to arrive here early tomorrow. His parents today requested that they be left alone to bury the body of their son as quietly as possible.

Marietta Is Quiet

Following Lynching

MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 18. No further efforts to investigate the lynching of Leo M. Frank on the outskirts of this town yesterday had been taken by noon today. Official opinion here is that Milledgeville and not Marietta should be the scene of any Investigation other than that conducted by the Coroner's Jury.

Marietta Citizens awaited with interest the reassembling of the Coroner's Jury next Tuesday. The Jury was impanelled yesterday soon after Governor Harris had notified officials here that he would expect the lynching to be investigated thoroughly. Only two Witnesses were heard, and they simply stated that the body they had seen hanging in the woods near town was that of Frank. The County Commissioners at a special session authorized the coroner to employ extra Counsel in the Case.

Mayor Woodward Gives

His Views of Lynching

(By Associated Press.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18. J.G. Woodward, Mayor of Atlanta, Ga., in an address here last night, declared that Leo M. Frank suffered the "just penalty for an unspeakable crime."

Mayor Woodward's address was made at a banquet of the California State Assessor's Association.

Little or no applause greeted his remarks, although he was listened to with close attention.

Mr. Woodward said:

"I am going to take occasion tonight to tell of the events that have put Georgia on the map in a very undesirable light. I am going to endeavor to set you right. People throughout the United States have obtained their ideas of the Frank Case from a poisoned and subsidized Press and Press Reports."

"Common decency prevents me from telling you the revolting truths of the murder of Mary Phagan. I wish you all knew the truths as I know them. I know them, for I have been with this case ever since it started, and I have read every line of evidence that was introduced. I know that there is not a Member of the jury that tried Leo M. Frank who would change his decision if put to the test again."

"Georgia is the leading State of the South. Its people cannot be classed with Tramps, Hoodlums, Bandits, and Lawbreakers, but things had come to a point where every Avenue of the Law had been exhausted and the Judgment of the Courts set aside by one man, and the people felt that it was up to them to take the law into their hands."

"While we people of Georgia deplore this deed of Monday night, we know what is behind the feeling that prompted it, and I want it understood that it is simply emphasizing the Fact that when it comes to a woman's honor there is no limit we will not go to avenge and to protect."

"There were only two people implicated in the Death of Mary Phagan. I know the Negro did not commit the deed, and am positive that 75 per cent of the people of Georgia are convinced that the man lynched Monday night committed the deed, and they are on the ground and ought to know."

"As Mayor of Atlanta, I have received tons and tons of letters and Petitions and requests asking that something be done for Frank, and they have all gone into the waste basket, for, like all Georgia people who are in a position to get at the truth, I know the Facts."

PAGE 4, COLUMN 2

Mob Rule Must Cease

In the sober aftermath of Georgia's tragedy and shame, one conviction towers in the mind of all thinking Citizens, and the conscience of all upright Citizens, and in the purpose of all Authorities to respect their Office and honor their State; and this conviction is that at any cost and any hazard Mob Rule in Georgia must be put down, once and forever.We stand at a fateful parting of the ways. We must choose between Government and Anarchy, between Civilization and Savagery, between the blackness of Hayti and the hope of our Anglo-Saxon Heritage. We must choose now the safe and righteous course, or henceforth go the path of deepening peril and disgrace. The unspeakably cruel and horrible Crime that has been perpetrated by a band of Law-Defying men sweeps immeasurably further than the issues of the Frank Case; it sweeps to the very base of our Governmental Institutions and challenges the very existence of our Social Order. The Mob that wrested this Prisoner from the Penitentiary, where he was serving a Lifetime Sentence, and boldly drove him across the State, and murdered him in Lawless revenge, and then exulted in its deed"this Mob has done far more than vent its fury on a victim, it has outraged and endangered a Commonwealth, it has assassinated the character of a Law-Abiding State.

If this mad spirit goes unpunished and unchecked, what becomes of the Power of Law and the Security of Property and Life? If this lynching, which by the way is the ninth that has occurred in Georgia within the last eight months, is condoned by responsible Authorities, who can say how frequent and swift will be the lynchings to follow? Let us face the stark and terrible issue now, let us settle it now, or resign our State to the unbridled instincts of the jungle.

The Mob that committed this Crime does not represent the decency and intelligence of Georgia any more than any Mob represents the decency and intelligence of any State. But this Mob does represent a savage, anarchistic impulse that will wax Hydra-Headed and uncontrollable unless it is crushed. Lawless people are no more numerous in Georgia than elsewhere, but they have been tolerated to such an extent that they have become all defiant. The individuals guilty of this outrage must be brought to Justice and made an everlasting example. They must be dealt with according to the soberest and sternest and speediest processes of Law. Otherwise, we had as well confess that there is no virtue in our Institutions.

As the Chief Custodian of the State's Honor and Law, it is the Governor's solemn duty to probe this Crime to its blackest bottom and to exhaust every resource at his Command to see that the guilty are punished and the State's integrity vindicated. If Governor Harris does nothing else during the entire Administration but does this in its Just completion, he will have rendered his State Immortal Service, and will go into history among the bravest and greatest men of his time.

Furthermore, in his truly sacred task, the Governor should be sustained by every Official and by all the thoughtful, upright people of Georgia. There is enough conscience, enough intelligence and moral determination in our State to stamp out Mob Rule, if they are exerted. But they must be exerted now and without ceasing. The Journal Appeals to every Patriotic Georgian, whether in Public or Private Life, to set his face like flint against the Mob spirit that menaces our beloved State, and to stand at all times and in all places for the righteous sovereignty of Law.