214 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

THE TRIAL OF LEO M. FRANK FOR THE MURDER OF MARY PHAGAN, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, 1913

THE NARRATIVE

Saturday, April 26, 1913, was Memorial Day, a holiday, and there was no work going on in the National Pencil Company's factory in Atlanta. However, Leo M. Frank, the superintendent, was in his office when, a little after noon, Mary Phagan, a white girl of fourteen years old, whose duty was to attach metal tips to pencils, called to collect some pay that was due her. She had not been at work for a week as the supply of metal had run out. There was no one else in the building except two workmen on the top floor.

Frank stated that he handed her an envelope containing $1.20; that she asked if the metal had come and that he replied, "no"; that she left his office, and that he heard her footsteps as she went away. There was no evidence that she was ever seen alive by anyone after that.

Early the next morning (Sunday), Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, found in the basement the body of Mary Phagan, strangled to death by a cord. There was a cloth tied around her head which was torn from her underskirt. There were no external signs of rape. The body was not mutilated, but there were wounds on the head, elbow, and below the knee.

Newt Lee was arrested but denied all knowledge of the crime; so did Frank, who expressed a strong desire to find the murderer and placed everything he could in the hands of the detectives to aid their search. However, on April 29, 1913, Frank was arrested, and on May 24, he was indicted for the murder of the little girl.

During the trial, Newt Lee testified that Frank had told him to be back at the factory at four o'clock on Saturday afternoon.