Category: TRANSCRIPTS: ATLANTA GEORGIAN

The Atlanta Georgian Saturday, July 12, 1913 *Editor's Note: The second portion of this article is not available. Acting Recorder Sends Girls to Reform School and Binds Two Men Over. Probe into vice conditions resulted in a startling climax Saturday afternoon when Acting Recorder Preston sentenced two girls, Corinne Wilson and Dora Rothstein to the Cincinnati Reform School and bound over two men, W.W. Suttles and C.A. Dollar, under $200 bond each, making eight vice cases tried Saturday, with the prospect of five more trials for Monday. The trial was featured by the statements of the Acting Recorder, who declared Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Saturday, July 12, 1913 *Editor's Note: This article also ran with the headlines "Says Women Overheard Conley Confess" and "Says Women Heard Conley Confess" in the Final and Home Editions, respectively. The headline used here is from the Night Edition. AFFIDAVITS SUPPORT MINCEY STORY Attorney Leavitt Declares Tale That Negro Admitted Killing Girl Will Stand Test. That several negro women overheard Jim Conley when he ran the insurance agent, Mincey, away with the alleged statement that he had just killed a girl and didn't want to kill any one else, and that the affidavits from the women Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 13, 1913 Attorney Leavitt Declares Tale That Conley Admitted Killing Girl Will Stand Test. NEWT LEE STILL HELD IN JAIL Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey Promises to Present a Bill Against Him as Suspect. That several negro women overheard Jim Conley when he ran the insurance agent, Mincey, away with the alleged statement that he had just killed a girl and didn't want to kill anyone else, and that the affidavits from the women are in the hands of the attorneys for the defense, was stated Saturday by Attorney J.H. Leavitt, who aided in obtaining the Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 13, 1913 *Editor's Note: Some text is blurred in the original document, and illegible text is marked by "". The text box insert is transcribed at the bottom of this post. Old Police Reporter Declares True Bill Against Negro Might Alter Entire Frank Prosecution. RULES OF EVIDENCE CITED Mincey Affidavit May Have Important Bearing on Defense of Pencil Factory Manager. By An Old Police Reporter. Persistent rumors have been abroad of late that the present Grand Jury may indict James Conley for the murder of Mary Phagan. This is interesting, for if the Grand Jury Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 13, 1913 Fugitive, Reported to Have Been Traced to Birmingham, Declares That He Witnessed the Attack on the Girl Slain in the Pencil Plant. LAYS CRIME TO BLACK WITH WHOM HE HAD GAMBLED Loser at Dice, He Declares, Planned to Rob Victim as She Came From Getting Pay—Tried to Prevent the Crime and, Failing, Fled. Report that a negro who has declared that he witnessed the attack by another negro upon Mary Phagan, which resulted in her death in the National Pencil Factory on the afternoon of April 26, has been apprehended in Birmingham, became Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 14, 1913 Young Woman From the Country Says She Was Lured to Resort on Peters Street. Raid Frees Victim of Alleged Gang From a Resort on Peters Street. Five White Men and Dozen Negroes Arrested in Raid Are Convicted in Court. *Editor's Note: This article was also published under the headlines "Police Hunt Vice Band's Leader" and "17 Caught in Vice Drag Fined," the latter article containing the following six paragraphs in brackets. The sub-headlines for each article are listed above in the same order. There is also a continuation of the article on a Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 14, 1913 *Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the Night Edition under the headline "Mincey Tells of Confession." Tells How Conley Confessed Killing Girl ‘I AM SEEKING ONLY TO DO MY DUTY FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE' The Georgian Secures Remarkable Statement From Chief Witness for Defense in the Trial of Frank. Declares Belief in Conley's Guilt. On Thursday, July 10, The Georgian published the exclusive story of an affidavit in the possession of the lawyers for Leo M. Frank, accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, made by W.H. Mincey, an insurance agent, the Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 14, 1913 MRS. CRAWFORD BEGINS FIGHT FOR HER FREEDOM STATE STILL CONFIDENT OF CASE Story of Negro Who Says He Was Eyewitness of Slaying Disbelieved by Solicitor. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and Attorney Frank A. Hooper, engaged in the prosecution of Leo M. Frank, were induced Monday to break the silence they have maintained grilling the negro Jim Conley last week. They made their first public comments on the sensational developments of the last few days in the Phagan murder mystery. Both declared emphatically that neither the affidavit of W. H. Mincey, insurance solicitor, Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 14, 1913 Revocation of License Will Be Asked if Law Is Violated. Girl Sentenced. The vice inquiry Monday morning resulted in a close surveillance of hotels which, it is alleged, harbor young girls for immoral purposes. If the law is violated, the police authorities say, the police committee of Council will be requested to revoke the license of the hotel involved. Chief Beavers has detailed men to watch for violations of the law following information given by Corinne Wilson and Dora Rosthstein , sentenced to the Reform School Saturday afternoon. The new information, it is Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Tuesday, July 15, 1913 RECALLS HE WAS TOLD STORY OF CONLEY Watchman Remembers of Visit of Witness to Factory on Day of Crime. Further corroboration of several of the important details in the remarkable affidavit of W.H. Mincey, insurance agent and teacher, who swore he heard Jim Conley confess killing a girl, came Tuesday in a statement by E.F. Holloway, day watchman at the National Pencil Factory. Holloway substantiated in every particular the story of Mincey's visit to the factory the Tuesday following the crime and recalled the general trend of the conversation, which was practically as Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Tuesday, July 15, 1913 Chief Beavers Opens Real Fight on Doubtful Places—Several Under Watch. Active steps against doubtful rooming and boarding houses were taken by Chief of Police Beavers Tuesday morning. He declared that he intends to close every "shady" rooming house in the city against which he can obtain evidence. He intimated that he has the addresses of a number of boarding houses where, it is alleged, young girls and men visit and where the roomers are in reality inmates of the place, and his campaign is to be directed especially against these. They will be Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Tuesday, July 15, 1913 A crusade against white men frequenting negro dives has been started by Recorder Nash Broyles. He fined three men, who gave their names as Kirk, Smith and Little and A.B. Arnold, of Macon, who forfeited $50.75. The five white men were arrested in a raid on a place at 76 Chestnut street, early Sunday morning. Helen Lester, who runs the dive, was held for the higher courts in bonds of $500. "The mingling of whites and blacks does more to stir up race trouble than anything else," declared the Recorder. * * * Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Tuesday, July 15, 1913 Mayor Woodward entered the fight which Chief Beavers is waging against vice in Atlanta Tuesday when he told of a negro dive and blind tiger which he said had been reported to him Tuesday morning by a man whose name he refuses to make public. This man, Mayor Woodward declared, had told him he had seen policemen passing through an alley in the direction of the blind tiger, though none of them had actually been seen to enter the place. Chief Beavers ordered an investigation. Captain Poole has been given particular instructions to Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Wednesday, July 16, 1913 *Editor's Note: This article also ran in the Final (Box Score) Edition under the headline "State Finds New Frank Evidence." Solicitor Declares Prosecution's Plans Are Unchanged—Doesn't Expect Conley Indictment. That affidavits as sensational and direct against Leo M. Frank, accused of murdering Mary Phagan, as the Mincey statement was against the negro, Jim Conley, are in the hands of the State and will be substantiated by witnesses at the trial, July 28, was admitted by Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey Wednesday morning. The Solicitor and Frank A. Hooper, associated with him in the Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Wednesday, July 16, 1913 Grand Jury Foreman Admits That Action Against the Negro Is Considered. The reported proposal by some of the members of the Grand Jury to meet for an investigation of Jim Conley's connection with the murder of Mary Phagan has precipitated a sharp struggle in which Solicitor Dorsey has declared himself bitterly opposed to any action looking toward the indictment of the negro as a principal in the crime or even as an accessory after the fact, as the negro admits himself to be. The fight has resolved itself into a contest to determine Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Thursday, July 17, 1913 *Editor's Note: This article ran in other editions of the Georgian with slight variations in the headline. GRAND JURY AGREED NOT TO ACT Solicitor Bitterly Opposes Plan of New Body to Reconsider Slaying Case. That the most strenuous opposition of Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey was all that prevented the last Grand Jury from reopening its investigation of the Phagan mystery with a view of indicting the negro Jim Conley became known Thursday. It was admitted by persons acquainted with the events in the Grand Jury room that the Solicitor's determined stand only Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Thursday, July 17, 1913 WOODWARD SCORED BY BROYLES "Can't Convince Ignorant Man He's Mistaken," Says Judge, Quoting Epictetus. WHAT BROYLES THINKS OF THE MAYOR. He's ignorant. He's a menace to civilization. He knows as much law as a boy does political economy. WHAT WOODWARD THINKS OF RECORDER. He's a petty czar. My office is bigger than his. If he wants to run my office, let him come up and give me orders. "Do not argue with an ignorant man, for you can never convince him he is wrong." Recorder Nash R. Broyles, quoting Mr. Epictetus, the late Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Thursday, July 17, 1913 Declaring that police officers placed him under arrest while he was attempting to convey a woman in the throes of an epileptic fit to a hospital and forced him to be the companion to a negro in riding in the patrol wagon to the police station, Mongin F. Smith, vice president and secretary of the Eagle Stamp Works, Thursday afternoon carried a trenchant complaint of police stupidity to Mayor Woodward for investigation. "The young woman whom we were endeavoring to place in a hospital was Miss Mabel Parker, a performer at the Old Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Thursday, July 17, 1913 *Editor's Note: Some words in the middle of this article are missing due to scanning blur near a page fold. Recorder Replies to Mayor's Charges of "Czar-Like" Police Court and Scores Him Severely "KNOWS MUCH LAW AS HOG DOES ECONOMY," HE SAYS The Judge Says, "Never Argue With an Ignorant Man, for You Can't Convince Him He's Wrong" Recorder Nash R. Broyles, in replying to Mayor James G. Woodward's criticism of his heavy sentences, quotes the philosopher who says, "Do not argue with an ignorant man, for you can never convince him that Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Thursday, July 17, 1913 Joe North, Alleged White Slaver, Declines to Talk Before Hearing in Recorder's Court. Joe North, alleged white slaver, arrested on the statement of Effie Drummond, a young woman who told the police he lured her into a rooming house, will be tried before Recorder Nash Broyles at 2:30 o'clock Thursday afternoon and every effort made to get from him the names of other persons in the "vice ring," to which Chief of Police James L. Beavers says North owes allegiance. North was arrested Wednesday night after a search of very nearly a week. Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Friday, July 18, 1913 POLICE HALT GRILLING OF CONLEY Detective Bent on Questioning Negro Is Barred From Cell by Chief Lanford. With Pinkerton detectives taking the trail in search of W.H. Mincey, whose startling accusations against Jim Conley stirred the police department and won the negro another "sweating" from Solicitor Dorsey, the Mincey affidavit Friday became the storm center about which the prosecution and defense in the Frank case waged their battle. Despite the degree of indifference with which the detectives and prosecuting officials affected to look upon the remarkable statements of Mincey, it became known Friday Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Friday, July 18, 1913 REVERSAL OF VERDICTS IS DENIED BY JUDGE Apologizes Also to Porcine Family for Likening Woodward's Legal Knowledge to Theirs. Recorder Nash Broyles penned a polite note of apology to the whole hog family Friday. With the same hand he picked up the cudgels with which again to belabor his honor, Mayor Woodward. The Mayor, quoth the recorder, was the author of a ridiculous and absurd falsehood and it was a regrettable libel upon Mr.Hog to have to submit to a comparison with Atlanta's Mayor. As for the Mayor, he declared he was tired Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Saturday, July 19, 1913 GRAND JURY SPLIT BY LATEST MOVE Public Opinion Forces Consideration of Move to Indict Conley for Phagan Slaying. Solicitor Dorsey is fighting vigorously the movement in the Grand Jury to indict Jim Conley Monday for the murder of Mary Phagan, despite the bombardment of letters from many citizens and by the sentiment of some of its own members. It is for the consideration of these letters and petitions, asking the reopening of the Phagan matter, that the meeting has been called. That it will result in the indictment of the negro is thought Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Saturday, July 19, 1913 "Dyspeptic, Fanatic, Stoneheart, Monomaniac" Are Other Terms in "Final" Retort. Mayor Woodward Saturday said he was finally dismissing Recorder Nash R. Broyles from his mind with the statement: "He is a natural dyspeptic, crank and a fanatic. If he ever had a heart it was turned to stone. Therefore, it is natural that he should become a monomaniac over the subject of using his czar-like authority in his own petty sphere. I don't care anything more about him." Mayor Woodward again went over the head of Recorder Broyles Friday when he reduced the Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 20, 1913 "Not Necessary to Indict Negro to Close His Mouth," Declares William Smith. William M. Smith, attorney for Jim Conley, the negro now being held as a material witness in the Phagan murder case and whose indictment for complicity in the crime will be considered by the Grand Jury Monday, brought to the office of The Sunday American Saturday night a statement in behalf of his client. In a letter accompanying the statement, Mr. Smith conveyed a doubt as to whether this newspaper would print what he had to say. The attorney's statement in Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 20, 1913 Attorneys Rosser and Arnold, in a Statement to the Press, Make Bitter Attack on Solicitor for His Conduct of Phagan Case. Call Attention to Secrecy Maintained by Prosecution, and Declare Action of State's Attorney Has Inflamed Public Opinion. Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold, attorneys for Leo M. Frank, who will be tried July 29 on the charge of killing Mary Phagan, joined Saturday in a bitter attack upon the policy of Solicitor Hugh M. Dorsey, whose procedure in the case, they said, had inflamed public opinion and had placed the Solicitor Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 20, 1913 Solicitor Is Bombarded With Letters to Proceed Against Negro as Slayer of Mary Phagan. THE GRAND JURY IS CALLED Hottest Battle of Famous Case To Be Waged Behind Closed Doors of Inquisitory Body. Solicitor Dorsey is fighting vigorously the movement in the Grand Jury to indict Jim Conley Monday for the murder of Mary Phagan, despite the bambardment of letters from many citizens and by the sentiment of some of its own members. It is for the consideration of these letters and petitions, asking the reopening of the Phagan matter, that the meeting Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 20, 1913 Man Who Says He Heard Negro Confess Now Is at Rising Fawn, Georgia W.H. Mincey, the school teacher who made an affidavit declaring Jim Conley confessed to him on the afternoon of the murder of Mary Phagan that he killed a girl, will appear before the Grand Jury to repeat his startling story when that tribunal convenes Monday to consider the Phagan matter, it was reported Saturday night. Mincey, who is now at Rising Fawn, Georgia, has expressed his willingness to come to Atlanta for this purpose. His evidence, which has proved the Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Sunday, July 20, 1913 By AN OLD POLICE REPORTER. The most important and interesting development of the week in the Phagan case was the Mincey affidavit, directing suspicion more surely in the direction of James Conley than ever before, if the affidavit is that of a credible witness. If what Mincey says is true—if his evidence can be made to "stand up" in court—then he is far and away not only the most important witness yet discovered, but his testimony will serve to clear up the mysterious Phagan case in its most obscure phases. Solicitor General Hugh Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 21, 1913 Dr. M. W. Lewis, a prominent physician of Carrollton, was arrested Monday morning and placed under $1,000 bond on a charge of disorderly conduct. He is charged with registering as man and wife at the Hotel Scoville, on Mitchell street, with Miss Effie McColman, who is held as a witness in the case. The trial will be held before Recorder Broyles Tuesday afternoon. The arrest was deloyed until the physician had finished a difficult operation at a sanitarium. According to the charges, Dr. Lewis arrived in Atlanta Monday morning with Miss McColman, registering Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 21, 1913 Four young women, three of whom had been caught in Chief Beavers' vice dragnet last week, escaped from the Martha Home during chapel exercises Sunday night. The women were Effie Drummond, who after being caught in a raid on Mrs. Lula Bell's place at Peters and Fair streets, declared she was a minister's daughter from North Carolina, and had been the victim of a white slaver; Maude Doughetry, apprehended at the same house; Beatrice Renfro, companion of A.N. Trippe, a Whitehall street clerk, arrested on complaint of Tripp'e wife, and Myrtle Bell, who Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 21, 1913 Protest of Solicitor Will Be Heeded Foreman Declares Inquisitorial Body Will Not Ride "Roughshod" Over Dorsey. With Solicitor Dorsey reaffirming his certainty that Jim Conley will not be indicted before the tral of Leo M. Frank and declaring that he will fight with all his vigor any movement in that direction, the Grand Jury members gathered in the Thrower Building Monday morning in response to the call of Foreman Beatie to decide whether they will reopen their investigation of the Phagan murder mystery. A strong probability that no action would be taken during Read More ...

The Atlanta Georgian Monday, July 21, 1913 Presents Evidence Showing Indictment of Negro Would Hinder Frank Prosecution. Here are the important developments of Monday in the Phagan case: The decision of the Grand Jury of Fulton County not to bring at this time an indictment against James Conley. The information that there is a strong probability of another postponement of the trial of Leo M. Frank. The Grand Jury's refusal to reopen its investigation of the Phagan murder mystery was a decided victory for the Solicitor after that body had overridden his request that no session be called to take Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 22, 1913 Hearing of Crawford Case May Conflict Conference Planned to Decide Which Shall Take Precedence. Ready to Draw Venire. Reuben R. Arnold, of counsel for Leo M. Frank, announced Tuesday that he proposed to seek a conference of the attorneys in the Frank case and in the Crawford will hearing to determine which case should be postponed next Monday, the date set for the beginning of the trial of Frank on the charge of slaying Mary Phagan. Mr. Arnold, Luther Z. Rosser, chief of counsel for Frank, both also are attorneys in the Crawford will case, and Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 22nd, 1913 TALK OF POSTPONING FRANK TRIAL TILL FALL Protest of Solicitor Dorsey Wins Presents Evidence Showing Indictment of Negro Would Hinder Frank Prosecution. Here are the important developments of Monday in the Phagan case: The decision of the Grand Jury of Fulton County not to bring at this time an indictment against James Conley. The information that there is a strong probability of another postponement of the trial of Leo M. Frank. The Grand Jury's refusal to reopen its investigation of the Phagan murder mystery was a decided victory for the Solicitor after that body had overridden Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 22nd, 1913 Slaying of Factory Girl, South's Most Baffling Crime Mystery, Reviewed in Detail. CHAPTER I. Will the veil of mystery be lifted when the curtain rises next Monday on another scene in Atlanta's darkest tragedy? A vast audience, shocked by the horror of Mary Phagan's fate on a Saturday of last April and held through the succeeding weeks in the thrall of the baffling crime drama, in keen suspense awaits this question's answer. Will Fulton County's Solicitor General be able to point his finger at Leo M. Frank and exclaim, "That is the man who strangled Mary Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 23rd, 1913 TRACE FOUND HERE OF NEGRO SAID TO HAVE SEEN PHAGAN SLAYING Sister of Will Green Tells Police He Slept at Home at Hour Girl Was Slain; Jim Conley, Factory Sweeer Again Grilled. The two negro principals in the Phagan case—Newt Lee and Jim Conley—were put on the grill together in the cell of the former in the county jail by Solicitor Dorsey and his assistant, Frank G. Hooper, late Wednesday afternoon. Present at the cross-examination were J. M. Gantt, former pencil factory employee, and Detectives Starnes and Campbell, the officers who have had charge of Conley Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 23rd, 1913 Scouts New ‘Proof' of Defense Detective Chief Scoffs at Claim of Evidence That Club Used by Negro Was Found. Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford Wednesday morning ridiculed the story that the defense of Leo M. Frank has in its possession a bloody club, alleged to have been found by two Pinkerton detectives on May 10 in the National Pencil Factory, and with which, it is reported, the defense will contend Mary Phagan was slain by James Conley, the negro sweeper. Asserting that he knows nothing whatever of the alleged bloody club, Chief Lanford declared that, if Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 23rd, 1913 The Discovery of the Body of the Slain Factory Girl and Start of Hunt for Slayer. CHAPTER II. His heart pounding in superstitious fright, Newt Lee, the night watchman, forced himself to approach the strange object on the pile of debris in the pencil factory basement. A step nearer and he could make out what appeared to be a human foot. He recoiled and was on the point of precipitate flight. But he must look closer, he thought. Perhaps, after all, it was only the ghastly prank of some of the factory employees who had manufactured Read More ...

Atlanta GeorgianJuly 24th, 1913 STATE READY AND WILL FIGHT A DELAY Solicitor Disappointed When Court Fails to Draw Jury Panels at Time Planned. With the belief growing that a serious effort is being made to delay the trial of Leo Frank, set for next Monday, Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey Thursday renewed his protest against further postponement in a vigorous statement, declaring the prosecution is ready with a complete case against the National Pencil Company factory head, accused of killing Mary Phagan. The trial date rests entirely with Judge Roan, who is in Covington. The drawing of the jury venire Read More ...