Author: Historical Librarian


Monday, 28th April 1913 10,000 Throng Morgue to See Body of Victim

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  The Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Coroner's Jury inspects remains and scene of tragedy, then waits until Wednesday Lying on a slab in the chapel of the Bloomfield undertaking establishment, with the white throat bearing the red marks of the rope that strangled her, the body of Mary Phagan was viewed by thousands this morning. No such gathering of the morbidly curious has ever before been seen in Atlanta. More people were attracted than by any crime in the history of the city. The crowds came in droves, and a steady procession passed before the slab on which Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 12-Year-Old Girl Sobs Her Love for Slain Child

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 "I'd help lynch the man that killed poor Mary. If they'd let me, I'd like to hold the rope that choked him to death. That's all he deserves. I was playing with Mary only a few days ago. She was my playmate nearly every day. But when I saw her dead body I wouldn't have known her, her face was so bruised and out and swollen. It was horrible. I hope they catch the man that did it."—VERA EPPS, twelve-year-old chum of Mary Phagan. Vera Epps clenched her little hands and anger blazed Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 3 Youths Seen Leading Along a Reeling Girl

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  Edgar L. Sentell, lifelong friend of Mary Phagan, says he saw a man answering this description, walking with the girl after midnight Sunday, a few hours before the body was found. He has identified the man as Arthur Mullinax, who, however, was to-day apparently cleared by an alibi established by his sweetheart.   Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 E. S. Skipper Tells Police He Saw Lads Urging Her Down Street Night of Crime. The story of three men leading a weeping, unwilling girl on Forsyth Street Saturday night is being sounded to its depths to-day by Atlanta policemen Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Arrested as Girl’s Slayer

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  Photograph of Mary Phagan showing her in street dress. JOHN M. GANTT ACCUSED OF THE CRIME; FORMER BOOKKEEPER TAKEN BY POLICE Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 J. M. Gantt, arrested in Marietta for the murder of Mary Phagan, gave to a reporter for The Georgian his story of his actions that led to his arrest. He protested his innocence, and declared he was home in bed at the time the crime is supposed to have been committed. In striking contradiction to this statement is the assertion of Mrs. F. C. Terrell, of 284 East Linden Street, where Gantt Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Body Dragged by Deadly Cord After Terrific Fight

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Stretched full length, face downward on the floor of the basement at the rear of the plant, the body was found. A length of heavy cord or wrapping twine, which had been used by the slayer to strangle the child after he had beaten her to insensibility, was looped around the neck, and a clumsy bandage of cloth, torn from her petticoat, as if to conceal the horrible method of murder swathed the face. The stray end of the cord lay along the child's back between her two heavy braids of dark red Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Chief and Sleuths Trace Steps in Slaying of Girl

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    Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 In the room where Mary Phagan was attacked and paid out her young life to the brutality of her assailant, across the floor where her limp form was dragged, down the stairs and down through the square trap-door into the dirty basement where her body was found, Chief of Police Beavers and two detectives trailed, step by step, every move of the girl's murderer to-day. Determined that not a clew should be overlooked in the efforts to fix guilt upon the man or men that took the young girl's life, the Chief Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 City Chemist Tests Stains For Blood

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Pieces of wood, the stains on which are believed to be those of the blood of murdered Mary Phagan, are undergoing a chemical examination this afternoon by the city chemist. The discovery of white powder on the factory floor strengthened the belief that a frantic effort had been made to erase the evidences of the crime. The powder resembled very much cleaning preparations that are used. * * * Atlanta Georgian, April 28th 1913, "City Chemist Test Stains for Blood," Leo Frank case newspaper article series  

Monday, 28th April 1913 Gantt Was Infatuated With Girl; at Factory Saturday

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  At the right is Miss Ruth Phagan, aunt of Mary Phagan, and in her arms is Miss Ollie Phagan, sister of the victim, whom she is trying to comfort.   Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Gantt was arrested on a warrant sworn out, in Judge Powers' court, charging him with murder. Gantt was last seen before his arrest at 8:45 this morning by Herbert Schiff, assistant superintendent of the factory. A few minutes later he was on a car bound for Marietta. The officers in Marietta were notified by telephone and were on the watch for a man Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Girl and His Landlady Defend Mullinax

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    Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Declaring her belief in the absolute innocence of her sweetheart, Arthur Mullinax, in the murder of Mary Phagan, pretty 16-year-old Pearl Robinson made a pathetic figure as she appeared before Chief of Detectives Lanford this afternoon and accounted for the whereabouts of Mullinax Saturday night up until about 10:30 o'clock. With Miss Robinson were Mrs. Emma Rutherford, the landlady of Mullinax, and her two sons, Thomas and James, who took up the moves of Mullinax from the time he left Miss Robinson until the next morning, establishing what appears to be a Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Girl is Assaulted and then Murdered in Heart of Town, The Atlanta Constitution

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  Atlanta Constitution Monday, April 28th, 1913 Page 1 Chum Identifies Victim as Mary Phagan, of 146 Lindsay Street, Then Swoons. Girl Had Just Resigned From National Pencil Company, in Which Plant Her Body Was Found. MOTHER AND FATHER STAY UP ALL NIGHT WAITING HER RETURN Negro Watchman Is Under Arrest on Suspicion—Police Believe That She Was Lured to Building by Three Young Companions, Assaulted Despite Her Vigorous Struggles, and Then Killed to Shut Her Lips. While mother and father anxiously waited her return home Saturday night, pretty 14-year-old Mary Phagan lay dead in a corner of the dark basement Read More ...

You Are There: Girl is Assaulted and then Murdered in Heart of Town, Atlanta Constitution, April 28th, 1913

Girl is Assaulted and then Murdered in Heart of Town Atlanta ConstitutionMonday, April 28th, 1913 Chum Identifies Victim as Mary Phagan, of 146 Lindsay Street, Then Swoons. Girl Had Just Resigned From National Pencil Company, in Which Plant Her Body Was Found. MOTHER AND FATHER STAY UP ALL NIGHT WAITING HER RETURN Negro Watchman Is Under Arrest on Suspicion—Police Believe That She Was Lured to Building by Three Young Companions, Assaulted Despite Her Vigorous Struggles, and Then Killed to Shut Her Lips. While mother and father anxiously waited her return home Saturday night, pretty 14-year-old Mary Phagan lay dead in Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Girl to Be Buried in Marietta To-morrow

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Stepfather and Sister to Accompany Body, But Mother May Not Be Able to Go. The body of murdered Mary Phagan, which has been at the Bloomfield morgue since she was found strangled to death Sunday morning, will be taken to Marietta to-morrow morning at 8:35 o'clock, over the W. & A. Railroad. At noon the funeral services will be held and the body of the child will be laid to rest in the family lot in the Marietta Cemetary. W. J. Coleman, the girl's stepfather, and her sister, Miss Ollie Phagan, will accompany Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Girl’s Grandfather Vows Vengeance

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    Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Standing with bared head in the doorway of his Marietta home, with tears falling unheeded down his furrowed cheeks, W. J. Phagan cried to heaven for vengeance for the murder of his granddaughter, fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan, and vowed that he would not rest until the murderer had been brought to justice. In a silence unbroken save by the sound of his own sobs and the noise of the gently falling rain, the old man lifted his quavering voice in a passionate plea for the life of the wretch who had lured the Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Horrible Mistake, Pleads Mullinax, Denying Crime

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  This youth, formerly a street car conductor, is held in connection with the investigation of the slaying of Mary Phagan in the basement of the National Pencil Factory in South Forsyth Street. He stoutly denies any connection with the crime, and declares his arrest as a "horrible mistake." He has accounted for himself, and likely will be released.   Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Arthur Mullinax, identified as the man who was with Mary Phagan at midnight Saturday, a few short hours before her dead body was found, and now a prisoner in solitary confinement at police headquarters, Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 “I Could Trust Mary Anywhere,” Her Weeping Mother Says

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  Mary Phagan, 14-year-old daughter of Mrs. J. W. Coleman, 146 Lindsay Street, whose slain body was found in the basement of the National Pencil Factory, 37-39 South Forsyth Street. The girl left her home Saturday morning to go to the factory, where she had been employed, to draw wages due her. She was seen on the streets at midnight Saturday with a strange man. She was not seen alive thereafter. MRS. COLEMAN PROSTRATED BY CHILD'S DEATH Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 "No Working Girl Is Safe," She Sobs, Overcome by Her Sudden Sorrow. Lying on the bed in Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Incoherent Notes Add to Mystery in Strangling Case

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Two mysterious notes—incoherent, misspelled and unintelligible—were found in the cellar of death; Were they written by the girl as she lay in delirium just before the end came, or Were they written by her slayer to throw the police off the track and turn suspicion towards a negro? Here they are: "He said he wood love me laid down like the night witch did it but that long tall black negro did by his sleb." "mama that negro hired down here did this I went to get water and he pushed me down Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Lifelong Friend Saw Girl and Man After Midnight

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Edgar L. Sentell, twenty-one years old, a clerk employed in C. J. Kamper's store, and whose home is at 82 Davis Street, was one of the first to give the detectives a hopeful clue to the solution of the hideous mystery. Sentell, a well-known young man, had known Mary Phagan almost all her life. When she was just beginning to think of dolls with never a thought of dreary factories and the tragedies of life, he used to see her playing in the streets of East Point when her folks lived there. She Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Look for Negro to Break Down

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Newt Lee, the negro-night-watchman arrested in connection with the Phagan murder, practically admitted to Detective John Black this afternoon that he knows something of the circumstances surrounding the death of the little girl. The police are confident that Lee will tell all he knows before 6 o'clock. Lee's admission came after he had been "sweated" for two hours by a corps of officers under the direction of Detective John Black, and was wrung from him by a trap which Black set and into which the negro walked. Black said: "Now, Lee, I know Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Mullinax Blundered in Statement, Say Police

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    Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Mullinax was arrested by detectives late in the afternoon in Bellwood Avenue, near the viaduct, as he was on his way to his boarding house. His positive identification by E. L. Sentell, of 82 Davis Street, a clerk for the Kemper Grocery Company, as the man he saw with the little Phagan girl in Forsyth Street about 12:20 o'clock yesterday morning, and alleged discrepancies in the statement of the prisoner led Chief Beavers and Chief of Detectives Lanford to order him locked in a cell and held on suspicion. Sentell, who knew Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Mullinax Held in Phagan Case

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  National Pencil Co. Building at 37-39 S. Forsyth St. in which the Phagan girl was slain   Atlanta Constitution Monday, April 28th, 1913 Page 1 Former Street Car Conductor Arrested as He Leaves the Home of His Sweetheart on Bellwood Avenue. As he was leaving the home of his sweetheart, Miss Pearl Robertson , on Bellwood avenue, early last night, Arthur Mullinax, a strikingly handsome youth, was arrested by Detective Rosser and carried to police headquarters. He is being detained under suspicion of having been implicated in the slaying of Mary Phagan. E. R. Sentell, a resident of 82 Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Negro is Not Guilty, Says Factory Head

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Superintendent Leo M. Frank Is Convinced Newt Morris Was Not Implicated. Owing to a delay in receipt of metal shipment part of the plant of the National Pencil Company had been shut down for most of the week and Mary Phagan worked but part of the time. A few minutes after 12 o'clock Saturday she went to the office and drew her pay, which amounted to $1.60. A holiday had been given the employees on Memorial Day and there were but very few about the place. The day watchman left shortly before 11 Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Neighbors of Slain Girl Cry for Vengeance

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Slaying of Mary Phagan Arouses Friends of Family to Threats of Violence. "I wouldn't have liked to be held responsible for the fate of the murderer of little Mary Phagan if the men in this neighborhood had got hold of him last night," was the statement to-day of George W. Epps, 246 Fox Street, whose home adjoins that of Mrs. Coleman, mother of the slain girl. By to-day the first hot wave of indignation that cried for the blood of the criminal had had time to subside, but the feeling still ran high Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913, J. M. Gantt is Arrested on His Arrival in Marietta; He Visited Factory Saturday, The Atlanta Journal

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Arthur Mullinax, who seems to have established an alibi through statements of friends that he was at home on night of the murder. The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 1, Column 1, Row 1) James Milton Gantt Protests His Innocence, Declaring He Knows Nothing of the Crime — Says He Went to Factory Saturday to Get Pair of Shoes Left There—His Statement is Confirmed by Superintendent Frank DECLARES HE KNEW MARY PHAGAN BUT HAD NOT HARMED HER It Is Not Known What Was Purpose of His Visit to Marietta Monday —His Whereabouts Sunday Not Yet Explained —Story of Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Police Think Negro Watchman Can Clear Murder Mystery; Four Are Now Under Arrest, The Atlanta Journal

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Mary Phagan Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 1, Column 2) Developments in Case Have Come Thick and Fast Monday but No Evidence Has Yet Been Developed Which Fixes the Atrocious Crime — Mullinax Seems to Have Proved Alibi SUPERINTENDENT FRANK AIDS POLICE IN TRYING TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY He Was Closely Questioned for Several Hours Monday but Left Headquarters in Company With His Attorneys and Friends—Crime Was Committed in Metal Room on Second Floor—Sleeping Compartment Found in Factory Basement Detectives expect to wring the secret of Mary Phagan's murder from Newt Lee, negro night watchman at the National Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Coroner’s Jury Visits Scene of Murder and Adjourns Without Rendering Verdict, The Atlanta Journal

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The Atlanta Journal Monday April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 2) Will Meet Again Wednesday Morning When Witnesses Will Be Examined—Five Hundred People Present When Inquest Was Begun For an hour Monday morning, a jury empaneled by Coroner Paul Donehoo groped through dark basement passageways and first-floor rooms in the factory of the National Pencil company hunting for evidence that would aid them in reaching a verdict as to who murdered pretty Mary Phagan. At the end of their hunt, the body adjourned. They will meet again on Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock to continue their investigation. Many witnesses who Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 “God’s Vengeance Will Strike Brute Who Killed Her,” Says Grandfather of Mary Phagan, The Atlanta Journal

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The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 2) Calling upon God Almighty to visit speedy vengeance upon the murderer or murderers of his fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Mary Phagan, whose mutilated body was discovered Sunday morning in the basement of the National Pencil company's factory on Forsyth street, W. J. Phagan, an elderly citizen of Marietta, declares that he will never rest until the fiend or fiends are brought to justice. The old man almost collapsed when he learned of the awful crime, and he sobbed piteously as he prayed for divine aid in clearing up the mystery surrounding Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Man Held for Girl’s Murder Avows He Was With Another When Witness Saw Him Last, The Atlanta Journal

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The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 4) Arthur Mullinax, Trolley Conductor, Denies That E. L. Sentell Saw Him Saturday Night With Mary Phagan Arthur Mullinax, identified by E. L. Sentell, of 22 Davis street, clerk for the Kamper Grocery company, as the man whom he saw with Mary Phagan, the murdered girl, at midnight Saturday, vehemently denies any part in the atrocious crime, and declares that he will be able to prove an alibi. Subjected to a quizzing in the office of Chief of Police Beavers, he told an apparently straightforward story of his actions on Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Strand of Hair in Machine on Second Floor May Be Clew Left by Mary Phagan, The Atlanta Journal

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1—Mary Phagan's own handwriting, as shown in her address she wrote for Sunday School teacher. 2—Written by Lee at suggestion of detectives for purpose of comparison. 3—One of notes found in cellar. 4—Also written by Lee at suggestion of detectives. The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 2) It's Discovery Leads to Theory That She May Have Been Attacked There and Then Dragged to Factory Basement The finding of half a dozen strands of hair in the cogs of a steel lathe in the metal room on the second floor of the National Pencil company's factory and Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Thousands Visit Morgue to View Girl’s Body, The Atlanta Journal

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The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 3) Six thousand people, according to reliable estimates, visited P. J. Bloomfield's undertaking parlors Monday morning to see the body of Mary Phagan. It was the largest crowd, police say, that had ever viewed a murder victim's body in Atlanta. Scores of friends, hundreds of acquaintances and fellow-workers in the pencil factory and thousands of simply curious walked around the bier between 7 o'clock and noon. So far as known, no relatives appeared. The mother of the girl is ill at her home as a consequence of her daughter's death Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Two Maundering Notes Add Mystery to Crime, The Atlanta Journal

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1—Mary Phagan's own handwriting, as shown in her address she wrote for Sunday School teacher. 2—Written by Lee at suggestion of detectives for purpose of comparison. 3—One of notes found in cellar. 4—Also written by Lee at suggestion of detectives. The Atlanta Journal Monday, April 28th, 1913 (Page 2, Column 4) City detectives, detailed to run down the murderer or murderers of fourteen-year-old Mary Phagan, are endeavoring to clear up the mystery surrounding the authorship of two crudely written and badly composed notes which were found near the corpse of the murdered girl in the basement of the pencil factory. Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Pinkertons Take Up Hunt for Slayer

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Investigate Story of Wife of Employee That She Saw Strange Negro Around Factory. The Pinkerton Detective Agency was brought into the Phagan murder mystery this afternoon when Leo Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company's factory, called upon the local representatives and engaged their services. The operatives went to work at once, following out clews already obtained and developing new ones. Their attention was called to the story of Mrs. Arthur White, wife of one of the employees of the factory, who went to the factory to see her husband Saturday. She noticed Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Playful Girl With Not a Bad Thought

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 "She was just a little, playful girl, without a bad thought in her mind, and she has been made the victim of the blackest crime that can be perpetuated," was the bitter denunciation of the assailant of Mary Phagan by her uncle, D. R. Benton, yesterday. Mary and her mother lived with Mr. Benton at his home near Marietta for several years following the death of Mr. Phagan. Then Mary's mother married J. W. Coleman and the family moved from Marietta to East Point about 1907. Twelve months ago they moved to their Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Police Question Factory Superintendent

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  STRAND OF HAIR CLEW IN KILLING OF PHAGAN GIRL Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Body of Mary Phagan Is Found in Basement of Old Granite Hotel in Forsyth Street—Mute Evidence of Terrible Battle Victim Made for Life WHITE YOUTH AND NEGRO ARE HELD BY THE POLICE After Being Beaten Into Insensibility Child Was Strangled and Dragged With Cord Back and Forth Across Floor—Incoherent Notes a Clew. Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Company plant, in which Mary Phagan was employed, was taken to police court this morning by Detective Black to tell what he knows in Read More ...

You Are There: Police Think Negro Watchman Can Clear Murder Mystery; Four Are Now Under Arrest, Atlanta Journal, April 28th, 1913

Police Think Negro Watchman Can Clear Murder Mystery; Four Are Now Under Arrest Mary Phagan Atlanta JournalMonday, April 28th, 1913 Developments in Case Have Come Thick and Fast Monday but No Evidence Has Yet Been Developed Which Fixes the Atrocious Crime — Mullinax Seems to Have Proved Alibi SUPERINTENDENT FRANK AIDS POLICE IN TRYING TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY He Was Closely Questioned for Several Hours Monday but Left Headquarters in Company With His Attorneys and Friends—Crime Was Committed in Metal Room on Second Floor—Sleeping Compartment Found in Factory Basement Detectives expect to wring the secret of Mary Phagan's murder from Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Slain Girl Modest and Quiet, He Says

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Timekeeper at Pencil Factory Declares Mary Phagan Attended Strictly to Her Work. "She was a quiet and modest little girl," was the tribute paid Mary Phagan to-day by E. F. Holloway, a timekeeper at the National Pencil Company's plant. "I never noticed her talking with any of the employees. She was invariably polite, as though she had been carefully reared in her home. She paid attention strictly to her own work and never was seen conversing with any of the men, so far as I know. "In fact, I don't know that she Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Soda Clerk Sought in Phagan Mystery

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Weeping Girl Like Mary Phagan Seen Saturday in Company of Soda Jerker. The police late this afternoon began a search for a soda water clerk who was seen talking to a girl answering the description of Mary Phagan Saturday night at 12:10 o'clock, in front of a rooming house at 286 1-2 Whitehall Street. The information was given to the police by L. B. and R. C. King, brothers, who said they passed the Whitehall Street address at that hour and saw the couple. Their attention was called to them, they say, by Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Story of the Killing as the Meager Facts Reveal It

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 A new turn was given the mystery to-day when strands of blood-matted hair were found in a lathing machine on the second floor of the factory. The discovery made it certain that the crime was committed in the factory by some one who had access to the building, a theory which had been without conclusive support previously. Blood stains leading from the lathe to the door showed the manner in which the fiend had dragged the body of his victim and had taken her to the basement. Appearances indicated that the murderer had Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Suspect Gantt Tells His Own Story

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  DENIES GUILT BUT IS IDENTIFIED AS MAN SEEN LEADING GIRL Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 The Georgian will pay $500 reward for EXCLUSIVE information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer of Mary Phagan. J. M. Gantt, accused of the strangling of Mary Phagan, was brought to Atlanta this afternoon at 4 o'clock from Marietta, where he had been under arrest in the Sheriff's office since forenoon. Fearing a demonstration from the crowd that had been waiting at the Walton Street station for several hours, Detective Hazlett transferred his prisoner from a Marietta car to a Read More ...

Monday, 28th April 1913 Where and With Whom Was Mary Phagan Before End?

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  Atlanta Georgian Monday, April 28th, 1913 Detectives to-day are using all their resources to learn where Mary Phagan was every minute of Saturday and Saturday night, whom she saw, with whom she talked, and what she said. There are wide blanks in the story of her movements. These must be filled. 12:10 p. m.—Mary Phagan appeared at the National Pencil Factory at ten or fifteen minutes after 12 o'clock noon, Saturday, and drew the pay due her, $1.60. She chatted a few minutes with friends. The manager is sure she then left the building. She told her mother she Read More ...

Tuesday, 29th April 1913 $1,000 Reward

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    Atlanta Constitution Tuesday, April 29th, 1913 Page 4 The assault and murder of 14-year-old Mary Phagan comprise the most revolting crime in the history of Atlanta Homicide is bad enough. Criminal assault upon woman is worse. When a mere child, a little girl in knee dresses is the victim of both there are added elements of horror and degeneracy that defy the written word. This outrage with all its gruesome and pitiful settings occurred in the very heart of Atlanta. It was committed by some human beast with more than jungle cruelty and less than jungle mercy. The Read More ...

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