Author: Historical Librarian

Conley's Affidavits.The defense procured under notice one statement and three affidavits taken by the detectives from Conley and introduced them in evidence.The first statement, dated May 18, 1913, gives a minute detail of his actions on the 26th day of April and specifies the saloons he visited and the whiskey and beer he bought, and minutely itemized the denomination of the money he had and what he spent for beer, whiskey, and pan sausage. This comprehends the whole of affidavit No. 1.On May 24, 1913, he made for the detectives an affidavit in which he says that on Friday before

"second and last statement." In that, he states that on Saturday morning after leaving home, he bought two beers for himself and then went to a saloon and won 90 cents with dice, where he bought two more beers and a half pint of whiskey, some of which he drank, and he met Frank at the corner of Forsyth and Nelson Streets, and Frank asked him to wait until he returned.Conley went over to the factory and mentioned various people whom he saw from his place of espionage going up the stairs to Mr. Frank's office. Then Frank whistled to

On the 29th of May, 1913, Conley made another affidavit, in which he said that Frank had told him that he had picked up a girl and let her fall, and Conley hollered to him that the girl was dead, and told him to go to the cotton bag and get a piece of cloth, and he got a big, wide piece of cloth and took her on his right shoulder, when she got too heavy for him, and she slipped off when he got to the dressing room. He called Frank to help, and Frank got a key to

All of the affidavit down to this point is in typewriting, the original was exhibited to me. At the end of the affidavit in handwriting is written the following: "While I was looking at the money in my hands, Mr. Frank said, 'Let me have that, and I will make it alright with you Monday, if I live and nothing happens,' and he took the money back, and I asked him if that was the way he did, and he said he would give it back Monday."It will be noticed that the first question which would arise would be, what

for five or six hours again, endeavoring to make clear several points which were far-fetched in his statement. We pointed out to him that this statement would not do and would not fit, and he then made the statement of May 28th, after he had been told that his previous statement showed deliberation and could not be accepted. He told us nothing about Frank making an engagement to stamp and for him to lock the door, and told nothing about Monteen Stover. He did not tell us about seeing Mary Phagan. He said he did not see her. He did

In his evidence before the jury in the redirect examination, Conley thought it necessary to account for the mesh bag, and for the first time, said that "Mary Phagan's mesh bag was lying on Mr. Frank's desk, and Mr. Frank put it in the safe." This is the first mention of the mesh bag.The first suggestion that was made of Frank being a pervert was in Conley's testimony. On the stand, he declared Frank said "he was not built like other men."There is no proof in the record of Frank being a pervert. The situation in which Conley places him

Conley swears he did. The State says that the use of the word 'did' instead of 'done' indicates a white man's dictation. Conley admits the spelling was his. The words are repeated and are simple, which characterizes Conley's letters. In Conley's testimony, you will find frequently that he uses the word 'did,' and according to calculations submitted to me, he used the word 'did' over fifty times during the trial.While Conley was in jail charged with being an accessory, there was also incarcerated in the jail a woman named Annie Maude Carter, whom Conley had met at the court house.

water' just as they are used in the Mary Phagan notes.In Conley's testimony, he says the word 'hisself' constantly.It is urged by the lawyers for the defense that Conley's characteristic was to use double adjectives.In the Mary Phagan notes, he said 'long tall Negro, black,' 'long, slim, tall Negro.'In his testimony, Conley used expressions of this sort: 'He was a tall, slim build, heavy man.' 'A good long wide piece of cord in his hands.'Conley says that he wrote four notes, although only two were found. These notes have in them 129 words, and Conley swears he wrote them in

In reply to this, the State introduced on the extraordinary motion the testimony of Philip Chambers, who swears that unused order blanks entitled 'Atlanta, Ga.' were in the office next to Frank's office and that he had been in the basement of the factory and found no books or papers left down there for any length of time, but they were always burned up.This evidence was never passed upon by the jury and developed since the trial. It was strongly corroborative of the theory of the defense that the death notes were written, not in Frank's office, but in the

evidence of Police Sergeant Dobbs, who visited the scene of the crime on Sunday morning, as follows:"This scratch pad was also lying on the ground close to the body. The scratch pad was lying near the notes. They were all right close together. There was a pile of trash near the boiler where this hat was found, and paper and pencils were down there too."Police Officer Anderson testified:"There are plenty of pencils and trash in the basement."Darley testified: "I have seen all kinds of paper down in the basement. The paper that note is written on is a blank order

The evidence as to the probability of the blank on which the death note was written being in the basement, and the evidence as to the hair, would have tended to show that the murder was not committed on the floor on which Frank's office was located.The Time Question.The State contended that Mary Phagan came to the office of Leo M. Frank to get her pay at some time between 12:05 and 12:10, and that Frank had declared that he was in his office the whole time.It is true that at the coroner's inquest held on Thursday after the murder,

The evidence loses its pertinency if Mary Phagan had not arrived at the time Monteen Stover came. What is the evidence?The evidence uncontradicted discloses that Mary Phagan ate her dinner at 11:30 o'clock, and the evidence of the streetcar men was that she caught the 11:50 car, which was due at the corner of Forsyth and Marietta Streets at 12:07 1/2. The distance from this place to the pencil factory is about one-fifth of a mile. It required from 4 to 6 minutes to walk to the factory, and especially would the time be enlarged because of the crowds on

hardly seems possible under the evidence that Mary Phagan was at that time being murdered.Lemmie Quinn testifies that he reached Frank's office about 12:20 and saw Mr. Frank. At 12:30, Mrs. J. A. White called to see her husband at the factory where he was working on the fourth floor, and left again before one o'clock.At 12:50, according to Denham, Frank came up to the fourth floor and said that he wanted to get out. The evidence for the defense tends to show that the time taken for moving the body, according to Conley's description, was so long that it

found by her side, it was urged before me by counsel for the defense that ladies usually carried their handkerchiefs in their mesh bags.If the motive was assault, either by natural or perverted means, the physicians' evidence, who made the examination, does not disclose its accomplishment. Perversion by none of the suggested means could have occasioned the flood of blood. The doctors testified that excitement might have occasioned it under certain conditions. Under the evidence, which is not set forth in detail, there is every probability that the virtue of Mary Phagan was not lost on the 26th day of

It may be possible that his version is correct. The testimony discloses that he was in the habit of allowing men to go into the basement for immoral purposes for a consideration, and when Mary Phagan passed by him close to the hatchway leading into the basement and in the gloom and darkness of the entrance, he may have attacked her. What is the truth we may never know.Jury's Verdict.The jury which heard the evidence and saw the witnesses found the defendant, Leo M. Frank, guilty of murder. They are the ones, under our laws, who are chosen to weigh

In this connection, Judge Roan declared orally from the bench that he was not certain of the defendant's guilt that with all the thought he had put on this case, he was not thoroughly convinced whether Frank was guilty or innocent but that he did not have to be convinced that the jury was convinced and that there was no room to doubt that that he felt it his duty to order that the motion for a new trial be overruled.This statement was not embodied in the motion overruling the new trial.Under our statute, in cases of conviction of murder

Surely, if Judge Roan entertained the extreme doubt indicated by his statement and had remembered the power granted him by the Code, he would have sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment.In a letter written to counsel, he says, "I shall ask the prison commission to recommend to the governor to commute Frank's sentence to life imprisonment *. It is possible that I showed undue deference to the jury in this case when I allowed the verdict to stand. They said by their verdict that they had found the truth. I was in a state of uncertainty, and so expressed myself

In the case of Hunter, a white man charged with assassinating two white women in the City of Savannah, who was found guilty and sentenced to be hung, application was made to me for clemency. Hunter was charged together with a Negro with having committed the offense, and after he was convicted, the Negro was acquitted. It was brought out by the statement of the Negro that another Negro, who was half-witted, committed the crime, but no credence was given to the story, and he was not indicted.The judge and solicitor-general refused to recommend clemency, but upon a review of

at the time he was an escapee from the Fannin County jail under indictment for felony."I refused to interfere unless the judge or solicitor would recommend interference, which they declined to do. Finally, when on the gallows, the solicitor-general recommended a reprieve, which I granted, and finally, on the recommendation of the judge and solicitor-general, as expressed in my order, I reluctantly commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The doubt was suggested as to the identity of the criminal and as to the credibility of the testimony of prejudiced witnesses. The crime was as heinous as this one and more

Judge Roan, with that awful sense of responsibility, which probably came over him as he thought of that Judge before whom he would shortly appear, calls to me from another world to request that I do that which he should have done. I can endure misconstruction, abuse, and condemnation, but I cannot stand the constant companionship of an accusing conscience, which would remind me in every thought that I, as Governor of Georgia, failed to do what I thought to be right. There is a territory 'beyond A REASONABLE DOUBT and absolute certainty,' for which the law provides in allowing