Category: TRANSCRIPTS: ATLANTA CONSTITUTION

  Atlanta Constitution Friday, May 9th, 1913 The detectives are investigating today a clew in the Phagan case brought to Atlanta Thursday by W. A. Smith, of Jonesboro, an employee of the Central of Georgia railroad, which was to the effect that he had just completed a thirty-hour chase, covering a trip of more than 100 miles, after two men who talked and acted suspiciously in his presence at the Jonesboro station Tuesday afternoon. The men, he said, escaped and the only tangible evidence which Smith showed the detectives was a lady's blood-stained handkerchief with a hole—apparently chewed—in the middle Read More ...

Monteen Stover. Little girl, former employee of National Pencil company, who swears Frank was not in office between 12:05 and 12:10 o'clock. Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 10th, 1913 Testimony Considered Important by Officers Because Frank at the Inquest Stated on Stand That He Did Not Leave Between Noon on Saturday and 12:25. When Quinn Came to See Him. SHE WENT TO FACTORY TO GET PAY ENVELOPE - POSITIVE OF THE TIME New Evidence, Just Submitted to Detective Department, Leads Chief Lanford to Believe That Mary Phagan Was Murdered in the Basement — Woman Says She Heard Screams on Saturday Afternoon. Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 11th, 1913 BY GORDON NOEL HURTEL. The mystery surrounding the murder of Mary Phagan, the young factory girl who met a tragic and a terrible death in the heart of a city whose streets were thronged with holiday crowds, may add another chapter to Atlanta's record of unsolved and unpunished crimes. Can such things be? is asked. Can murder, red-handed, find a victim in the midst of a populous city when the sun is smiling in God's skies of blue and where the protecting power of the law and the vengeance of justice are near, Read More ...

Robert House Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 11th, 1913 Robert House, Now a Special Policeman, Tells the Atlanta Detectives of an Incident of Over a Year Ago. SEES FRANK IN TOWER AND RECOGNIZES HIM Three More Pinkertons Are Put on the Phagan Case, Under the Supervision of Harry Scott. Detectives have procured in Robert P. House, a special policeman, a witness who has testified that he once apprehended Leo M. Frank, the suspect in the Mary Phagan mystery, and a young girl in a desolate spot of the woods in Druid Hills Park. The policeman declares he obtained admission from Frank Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Monday, May 12th, 1913 "You Are Employed to Hunt Down Murderer, It Matters Not Who He Is," Luther Rosser Informs Detectives. GRAND JURY TO PROBE MYSTERY NEXT WEEK Solicitor Dorsey States That He Wants All the Evidence Ready to Submit to Jurors Before Opening Hearing. Officials of the Pinkerton National Detective agency, who were brought into the Phagan case through Leo M. Frank, recently went to authorities of the National Pencil company. It is stated, and in the presence of Leo M. Frank's counsel, Luther Z. Rosser, said: "We want to make our position clear. The Pinkertons Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Monday, May 12th, 1913 The history of the baffling Phagan mystery, daily recorded, is briefly as follows: Sunday April 26—Girl's body found in basement of pencil factory. Newt Lee, negro night watchman, who made discovery, arrested. Arthur Mullinax, street car employee, also arrested. Both held on suspicion. Monday—Leo M. Frank, factory superintendent, detained, but later released. J. M. Gantt, former bookkeeper of pencil concern and friend of dead girl, arrested in Marietta. Negro elevator boy also taken into custody. Pinkertons enter case. Tuesday—Bloody shirt found at negro watchman's home. Planted evidence theory advanced. Mary Phagan's body buried. Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Tuesday, May 13th, 1913 "I Am Confident That He Will Be Proven Not Guilty of This Terrible Crime," She Tells Reporter HAS NOT SEEN HER SON SINCE HE WAS MARRIED W. J. Burns Secured to Take Charge of Phagan Mystery Investigation—Engaged by Friends of Murdered Girl ANOTHER ARREST EXPECTED IN PHAGAN MYSTERY CASE It was reported on good authority this morning that officers working upon the Mary Phagan murder would make a new arrest today or tomorrow which is expected to throw an entirely new light upon the case. None of the officials have discussed this Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Tuesday, May 13th, 1913 By Thomas Byrd Magath A veil of mystery so dense as to completely shut off the light from all newspaper men surrounds the identity of the detective who has been employed by Solicitor General Dorsey. So far nothing can be learned except that the mysterious detective has worked on the case only one week and is now not in Atlanta, but some distance away working on another case. "This detective, one of the best in the country," quotes Mr. Dorsey, "did not give up the case because of inefficiency for," says the Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Wednesday, May 14th, 1913 Reporter of The Constitution Is Summoned by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey for Conference. OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE THEORY OF MYSTERY Much Interest Is Created by the Report That a New Arrest May Be Made in the Near Future. The handwriting of Mary Phagan is likely to play a prominent part in the investigation of her murder. Rumors came Tuesday from the solicitor general's office that new clues had been discovered in the form of notes or letters, and that much energy was being concentrated in investigation along that line. Handwriting experts have been Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Thursday, May 15th, 1913 Identification Slip Carried by Mary Phagan in Her Pocketbook Causes Theory That the Victim Had Been Threatened With Violence. Either threatened with death or warned by some dread premonition of an untimely end, Mary Phagan is believed by Solicitor Dorsey to have prepared for her tragic fate by writing the identification slip discovered hidden in a compartment of the metal pocketbook which she carried daily. The slip was given the solicitor Wednesday morning by a reporter for The Constitution. The reporter also made an authorized statement of the source from which it Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Friday, May 16th, 1913 To Solve Phagan Murder, Joseph Hirsch, Capitalist, Starts Public Subscription to Assure Fund for Burns. SOCIETY WOMEN AID MOVEMENT FOR FUND Local Detectives in Conference and Are Believed to Have Secret Documents Bearing on Case. With The Constitution's donation of $100 as a nucleus, Atlanta today begins building a fund with which to employ to ferret the mystery of Mary Phagan's murder Detective William J. Burns, America's most successful detective. Assurance that subscriptions will be plentiful and generous came to Attorney Thomas E. Felder last night in telephone messages from numerous public-spirited Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Friday, May 16th, 1913 By all means employ William J. Burns to solve the Mary Phagan murder mystery! It will cost several thousand dollars to get the world-famous detective to come to Atlanta, and The Constitution herewith starts the subscription with $100. As soon as Homer George, manager of the Atlanta theater, learned of the subscription he subscribed $10. Never in the history of Atlanta has there been such an insistent demand that a murderer or murderers be apprehended. For days and weeks the Phagan murder has been the sole topic of conversation. Now that the subscription Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 17th, 1913 Noose Found Knotted Around Neck of Mary Phagan Being Carefully Examined by Officers. BURNS RIGHT-HAND MAN NOW PROBING MYSTERY Fund Started by The Constitution for Purpose of Bringing Noted Detective to Atlanta Has Reached $1,500. In the noose found knotted around the throat of Mary Phagan's lifeless body, Solicitor Dorsey and headquarters detectives aver they possess a valuable clue to the girl's murderer. It is being inspected by experts, who also are examining specimens of cord picked up here and there in the factory building in which the child was slain. Expecting Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 18th, 1913 Members of the Staff of the Solicitor General Are Now Keeping Trio Under Strict Surveillance. LANFORD HAS EVIDENCE TO CONVICT, HE SAYS Will Not Divulge Its Nature to Anyone, He Declares. Court Postponed to Allow More Time to Probe Case. SATURDAY'S DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PHAGAN MYSTERY Rumors from office of solicitor general say that three arrests will be made of attaches to pencil plant before case goes to grand jury. Trio will be jailed, it is said, within next few days. Chief Lanford, of police headquarters, announces he possesses documentary evidence which Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Monday, May 19th, 1913 Another Employee of the National Pencil Company Now Held at Police Headquarters. VALUABLE EVIDENCE FOUND BY BURNS MAN For Hours the New Detective, Col. Thomas B. Felder and Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey Discuss Case. In the first report of his investigation of the Mary Phagan tragedy, William J. Burns' agent informs Solicitor General Dorsey that he already has obtained a valuable clue, and that a new phase of the mystery, upon which he is basing his operations, will be productive of early and startling results. Sunday was a day of vigorous activity in all Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Tuesday, May 20th, 1913 "Freedom of Murderer Is a Menace to Honor and Life of Every Woman," Writes Mrs. James Carr. Optimistic over the prospects for solving the Mary Phagan mystery, C. W. Tobie, chief of the William J. Burns criminal department, told a reporter for The Constitution yesterday morning that he was confident the girl's murderer would be apprehended and convicted in a surprisingly short while. "What if Mary Phagan were your child?" is the subject of an eloquent plea made to the women of Atlanta by Mrs. Jane F. Carr for the apprehension of the slyer. Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Wednesday, May 21st, 1913 Burns Operative Finds New Theory in Detailed Study of Life of Girl Who Was Murdered. Investigation into the life of Mary Phagan from the time she was a child until the day upon which she was murdered has been the work for the past several days of C. W. Tobie, the investigator who is preceding William J. Burns in the attempt to find the perpetrator of the crime. The detective will not reveal his specific reasons for accumulating a record of the girl's life, but steadily he has been familiarizing himself with every detail Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Thursday, May 22nd, 1913 Two Investigators Are Added to Wm. J. Burns' Forces Already in Atlanta—P. A. Flak in City. The William J. Burns forces in the investigation of the Mary Phagan mystery have been reinforced by two expert investigators who recently arrived in the city and are assisting Chief C. W. Tobie in his work. Their identity is being withheld. Both began work Wednesday. One is a noted handwriting and finger print expert, and his first object was to examine the notes found beside the girl's body and to obtain finger prints at and around the scene Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Friday, May 23rd, 1913 Mrs. Nina Formby Swears Suspected Man Wanted a Room for Himself and a Girl on Murder Night. TO PRESENT AFFIDAVIT TO GRAND JURY TODAY Mysterious Telephone Message Caused Detectives to Interview Woman Who Conducts Rooming House. Mrs. Nina Formby, who conducts a rooming house at 400 Piedmont Avenue, near Currier Street, Atlanta, has signed an affidavit to the effect that on April 26, 1913, Leo M. Frank called her up repeatedly by telephone and endeavored to secure a room for himself and a young girl. The affidavit was signed Monday, May 11, Read More ...

    Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 A. S. Colyar, when seen last night by a representative of The Atlanta Constitution, gave out the following statement: "I have just read Colonel T. B. Felder's card in the bedtime edition of The Atlanta Georgian, in which he sees fit to call me, behind my back, a liar and a crook. Knowing the colonel as I do, and as his intimate friends know, he is a past grand master on explanations. The Atlanta Journal, in its Friday afternoon home edition, published every detail of the case, with the sworn statements of Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 Affidavits and Alleged Dictagraph Record Are Made Public, Accusing Prominent Lawyer, of Offering Bribe of $1,000 to Secretary Febuary, of Police Department, to Secure Affidavit Made for Police by J. W. Coleman, Stepfather of Mary Phagan, in Regard to Felder's Connection With Case. ALLEGATIONS ARE MADE TO FORESTALL A PROBE OF POLICE, SAYS FELDER Mayor Woodward Also Dictagraphed , According to Report—Admits He Was Called Into Conference by A. S. Colyar, Who Offered Him, He Says, Evidence That the Police Department Is Giving Protection to Disorderly Houses in Atlanta—"I've Done My Duty, It's Read More ...

  Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 The criminal career of A. S. Colyar reads like a story from the Arabian Nights. Probably no man in Tennessee has imposed so successfully upon the public and has escaped so lightly. The son of Colonel A. S. Colyar, in his day one of the most prominent citizens of Nashville and a grandson of ex-Governor Albert S. Marks with a family connection that includes many of the aristocrats of this section, he has been exceptionally fortunate in escaping the law although on various occasions he has done time. He has probably been arrested Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 "I am not surprised," said Chief Beavers when asked to give an expression on Colonel T. B. Felder's alleged statement regarding graft and immorality in the detective department. "I am not surprised in the least. "However, I don't think it would be very nice of him to have me ridden through the streets naked, as he is reported to have threatened. Besides being not nice, he might lay himself liable to prosecution for public idecency." Further than this, Chief Beavers maintained the sphinx-like attitude which has characterized him ever since a certain memorable occasion Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 State of Georgia, Fulton County: The affiant, J. W. Coleman and wife, citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, who reside at 146 Lindsay street. The affiant is the stepfather of Mary Phagan, deceased, the child who was foully murdered by a hellish brute on April 26, 1913. The affiant is in the employ of the City of Atlanta in the Sanitary department. The affiant, while at the police station during the coroner's inquest, the exact day he does not remember, was approached by a man somewhat under the influence of liquor, and said to the affiant, Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 City Detective Department Holds Statements Alleging Attorney Made Attempt to Secure Coleman Affidavit. SAY FELDER OFFERED $1,000 FOR THE PAPER Report of Conversation Between Col. Felder, Secretary Febuary and A. S. Colyar Taken Down by Gentry Colonel Thomas B. Felder—the man who brought the dictograph south and used it with such telling effect in the Blease investigation in South Carolina—has himself and a charge of against him and which the department declared . Charges are made that Colonel Felder offered a bribe of $1,000 in order to have affidavits Phagan murder case stolen from Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 On Night of Murder Prisoner Was Not at Residence, as He Says He Was, States Head of Detective Dept WITNESSES WILL SWEAR TO THIS, HE ASSERTS Leo Frank Swore at Coroner's Inquest That He Reached Home at 7:30 O'Clock and Did Not Leave House "I can prove that Frank was not at home during the hours of Saturday night, the night of the murder that he claimed he was. I will have witnesses to swear to this." Such was the startling statement by Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford to a reporter for The Constitution Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 Grand Jury is Now Engaged in Conducting Investigation of the Murder of Mary Phagan. That the state in its bills of indictment for the murder of Mary Phagan, brought separately against Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee, charges that the girl was strangled, was learned yesterday afternoon following the adjournment of the grand jury, which took up the case at 11 o'clock in the morning and went into its details until 1:45. Shortly after the adjournment of the grand jury Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey expressed himself as well pleased with the results of the Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 The little dictograph cunningly hidden in Detective Colyar's room in the Williams House No. 2 is said to have caught a conversation between Mayor James G. Woodward, Secretary G. C. Febuary of the detective department and Edward Miles, Wednesday afternoon, between 3 and 4 o'clock. Detective Colyar who drew Attorney Thomas B. Felder into the conspiracy was also present at the interview. Colyar sent Miles to the private office of Mayor Woodward in the Empire building, with an invitation that he examine affidavits which Colyar alleged to have in his possession charging police graft. Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Saturday, May 24th, 1913 A merry laugh was the first comment made by Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey when told of the reported dictograph evidence in which Colonel T. B. Felder is quoted as saying that he could control the mayor, the criminal court judge and Hugh Dorsey. Solicitor Dorsey was at his home at the time, endeavoring to find rest and recreation after the morning's work of placing the evidence in the Phagan case before the grand jury. Hugh Dorsey, Jr., was in his arms at the time and from the lad's continuous efforts to express his joy Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 System of Corruption as Poisonous as That of the Mafia Exists in Atlanta, According to Statement Made by Attorney Accused of Trying to Bribe Secretary G. C. Febuary to Steal Affidavit in the Phagan Case—Says Detectives Are Trying to Shield Murderer of Girl. COLONEL FELDER IS MAKING HIMSELF LAUGHING STOCK, SAYS LANFORD; HINTS AT NEW BRIBERY CHARGES A. S. Colyar, Leading Figure in Bribe Charges, Is Placed Under Arrest on Warrant From Knoxville, But Is Released on Bond—Connally , Negro Employee of the National Pencil Factory, Tells Officers He Wrote Notes at Dictation of Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 following affidavit concerning his connection with the Phagan case and with A. S. Colyar. Georgia, Fulton County—Personally appeared before the undersigned, an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, C. W. Tobie, who, first, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That he is a citizen of Chicago, with offices in the First National Bank building of that city, and that he is manager of the criminal department, west, of the William J. Burns National Detective agency; that he has occupied this position for the past ten months; that he has been connected with the Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 That's the Way Mayor James G. Woodward Made Answer Saturday to Published Dictagraph Record. After Mayor James G. Woodward and read the published dictagraph record of the conversation alleged to have been held between him, A. S. Colyar, G. C. Febuary and E. O. Miles, in room No. 31, Williams House, Wednesday afternoon, he declared that it was a "frame-up by a dirty gang." The mayor told The Constitution that he would be willing to start a fund to employ Burns detectives to trace the motive which inspired Colyar and his companions. "I haven't Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 Professed Conversion During Revival at Cartersville and Married Rich Widow Before the Meeting Was Over. Athens, Georgia, May 24.—(Special.)—A. S. Colyar, now in the public eye in the Felder matter, had a short, hot, meteoric career in Athens in 1905. He came here representing himself as a former law partner of Hon. Andrew Lipscomb, of Washington, ingratiated himself with the bar, passed a forged check on his father at the Georgia National bank, secured the indorsement of Colonel C. H. Brand, then prosecuting attorney for the state, on a fraudulent draft and disappeared. He Read More ...

A. S. Colyar Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 Four sworn statements concerning the career of A. S. Colyar, and declaring him a criminal and unworthy of belief, have been furnished The Constitution by Colonel Thomas B. Felder. They are as follows: Record in Nashville. State of Georgia, County of Fulton—Personally appeared before the undersigned, an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, C. R. Atchison, who, first being duly sworn, deposes and says: That he was born and reared in the city of Nashville, Tenn., and lived there until January 1, 1913, when he removed to the city of Read More ...

George Gentry. Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 Lanford Declares No Printable Words Can Be Found to Describe Lawyer's Attack. "As for Tom Felder's charges of graft in the police or detective departments," said Chief Lanford last night, "they are as rotten as we have shown his character to be. There is no printable words that might be used to describe them. All Atlanta knows they are untrue, unfounded and are but the explosions of a distorted brain—a brain deformed by years of treachery, and they call him ‘Colonel' Felder. "He directs most of his charges of corruption toward the Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 He Will Not Go to Trial Before the Latter Part of June, According to Solicitor General Dorsey. Leo M. Frank, indicted Saturday afternoon for the murder of Mary Phagan, the 14-year-old girl whose dead body was found at 3 o'clock on the morning of April 27 in the basement of the National Pencil factory, will not go to trial before the latter part of June, according to a statement which Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey made last night. Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, who called the police to the place, was left under Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 National Pencil Company Director Gives Written Statement of Confidence in Superintendent. Declaring that he cannot too strongly indorse Leo Frank's moral character or business capacity, John O. Parmele, president of the Parmele company, manufacturers and importers, and a member of the board of directors of the National Pencil factory, last night gave The Constitution a written statement: "I am a member of the board of directors of the National Pencil factory," he writes. "My duties require me to be at the factory and in the private office of our superintendent, Mr. Leo M. Frank, Read More ...

Leo Frank, an undated family photograph Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 "Frank will be convicted. He is the guilty man, and we will show it beyond a doubt. Evidence that we hold but will not reveal will startle those who believe his innocence into conviction of his guilt. It will not be disclosed until the trial. "I have been confident throughout the investigation of his guilt. I am satisfied now. Colonel Felder's charges that we have shielded Frank can find no substantiation. The evidence we have unearthed is proof to the contrary. "The detectives of police headquarters have solved Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 Going to A. S. Colyar's room in Williams House No. 2, on Forsyth street, Wednesday afternoon to make efforts to get information of alleged grafting on the part of Chief of Police Beavers and Chief Lanford, Mayor James G. Woodward walked into as neat a trap as was ever devised. The same dictagraph which was alleged to take down the statements of Colonel T. B. Felder, is said to have been working while the mayor of Atlanta was in conference with E. O. Miles, a private detective; Febuary, Chief of detectives Lanford's clerk, and Read More ...

Atlanta Constitution Sunday, May 25th, 1913 Columbia, S. C., May 24.—(Special.—Governor Cole Blease, on whom the dictagraph was first sprung in the south, and by a strange coincidence through the instrumentality of Colonel T. B. Felder, feels that his time has come, and recent events are pointed to by him as his complete vindication. "'He that putteth on the sword by the sword he shall perish'—or words to that effect—is my biblical authority for the paraphrase that ‘he who uses the dictagraph against another and fails to prove anything by it, by the dictagraph himself shall be crucified,'" said Governor Read More ...