Wednesday, 1st December 1943: Leo Frank’s Widow Not Bitter, Sews On Wedding Anniversary, The Atlanta Constitution

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By CELESTINE SIBLEY

The gentle, brown-eyed woman who married Leo Frank 30 years ago spent the anniversary of their wedding day yesterday as she spends every Tuesday sewing for the Red Cross.

But as she sewed in a backroom in her church, hope which has smoldered in Lucille Frank's heart for 28 years flamed anew the hope that after her years of misery her husband will be proved innocent.

The basis for Mrs. Frank's hope is the recently published statement of Judge Arthur G. Powell that he knows who killed Mary Phagan, and that it was not Frank.

Grants Interview.

A retiring sort of person, Mrs. Frank was hesitant about making any sort of statement, and granted an interview only after insistence of friends.

"I'm in no position to demand anything of Judge Powell or of anybody," Mrs. Frank said quietly. "I can only hope as I have for years, that my husband will be proven innocent.

"I know he was innocent all thinking people know it. And every day for the past 28 years I have been haunted by the terrible thing that was done to him. The stories about Judge Powell's book have made it no fresher in my mind than it was before. I have lived and hoped and prayed that I would see him vindicated before the world."

Mrs. Frank, who now lives at an apartment hotel, spent 10 years away from Atlanta shortly after the husband, to whom she had been married only two years, died at the hands of a mob near Marietta.

Holds Head High.

"I wasn't trying to run away," she pointed out with a tremulous smile, and her eyes filled with tears. "You can't run away from memories. As for the public, I've always held my head high. I've no reason to do otherwise. My husband was a martyr."

Mrs. Frank has no children and she fills most of her days with charitable works, sewing three days a week at The Temple for the Red Cross. Still youthful despite the years lived with tragedy, Mrs. Frank has a pretty, smooth face and hair only slightly threaded with silver.

"I haven't allowed myself to be embittered," she said. "It would have been easy to grow hard and filled with hate, but I have fought against that and have lived on hope."

Two Are Held In Coupon Case

Charged with taking 75 class "A" gasoline ration books from the Fayette County War Price and Ration Board and 120 class "C" and 18 class "TT" books from the Forsyth County War Price and Ration Board, Samuel A. Ross, of a Lawton street address, and Ernest Elbert Grant, also of Atlanta, were arrested and held by federal officials in default of bonds.

Ross and Grant both waived hearing before United States Commissioner David J. Meyerhardt yesterday, and bonds of $2,000 for Ross, and $1,000 for Grant, were assessed.

Evidence of the charges will be presented to a federal grand jury this month, OPA officials reported, as will a number of other cases expected to be disclosed before the grand jury convenes.