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the Gentiles who have fallen into this
hysteria, in behalf of a man whose only claim
to attention is, that his character is peculiarly
vile, Ins crime particularly revolting, and his
financial resources unlimited?
r If Mary Phagan had been a rich man's
daughter, and Frank, a poor man's his
neck would have long ago!
My lords, listen to me!
This case is more than a law case. This
case involves the honor of a State 1 This case
drags the judicial ermine into the ditch. This
case is an indictment against jury trial. This
case is an attack upon the fortress of the Law.
This case pollutes the holy temple of Justice.
There never were such foul methods used
to ..besmirch honest men, mock the truthful
evidence, gull a generous public, and defeat
the very purposes of the criminal code.
There never were such lawless, and per
sistent efforts made to buy evidence, and to
silence witnesses.
J here never were such prodigious energies
put forth to conceal the Truth and to put
•Falsehood in its place.
In the whole period of American history,
no such campaign of abuse, of misrepresenta
tion, of deliberate fabrications, and system
atic efforts to humbug outsiders, enlist the
services of to close the mouths of
editors, to corrupt or intimidate officials; and
to “get away with it," in defiance of the rec
ord, the verdict, and the decisions of the
courts.
They have never dared TO
THE EVIDENCE, nor will they ever dare
to do so!
While the Prison Commission and the Gov
ernor of Georgia are considering what steps
they will take, I commend to their reflections,
two editorials, which appeared, in 1911, in
that virtuous organ of civic righteousness,
IT he Atlanta Journal'.
1 }
FOR THE GOOD OF SOCIETY.
“Fearful though the crime may have been that
provoked the punishment, few of us can read
without a shudder of horror that the young Vir
ginia wife-murderer, now a living, breathing man,
must die by the hand of the law two weeks hence;
that he is doomed irrevocably, and that every
tick of the clock brings him nearer the moment
when the lightning death will wither him in the
electric chair.
The law is great. It protects us. It guards
bur lives and our property. Its rigid enforcement
against rich and poor alike, against big and little,
is none too common; and in that respect, the
Beattie case is a notable example, worthy of emu
lation in other States.
Though Society abhors the thought of capital
punishment, there is a feeling that it cannot yet
be abolished —that there is some powerful reason
why it must be continued as it has been handed
down to us through time; that it is almost a di-
Vine institution, originating away back in the
time when the Almighty was more evident upon
the earth, and that man must not tamper with it.
But the reluctance is due to our-well grounded,
fears that if the murderer is condemned to life
imprisonment, he may some day go free through
the clemency of a Governor who remembers little,
and cares less, of the crime.”—Editorial in At
lanta Journal, Nov. *l6, 1911.
I
BEATTIE’S CONFESSION VINDICATES
; • JUSTICE.
“Like a dash of cold water in the face, the
confession of Henry Clay Beattie, Jr., cleared the
brain of the Nation yesterday, almost immediately
after it was dazed by the horrible news that
Beattie had been killed by the Jaw. The execu
tion and the confesion had a salutary effect upon
the whole American people, the former making
them realize that there is a man-made law which
exacts an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;
and the latter impressing upon them the unerring
accusation of the law.
It has been remarked that in no other State
than in Virginia would Beattie have gone to his
punishment with such expedition. If that be
true, then Virginia has put the Nation in
its debt for a lesson that will make human life
more sacred than it was a few hours ago. ‘I do
confess my guilt to the crime charged against
xne.’ Those words were the heart of the brief
confession written by Beattie’s own hand, and
revealed by his attending ministers after his
£eath. The country read them, and drew a
THE JEFFERSONIAN
breath of relief. At last, there was undeniable
proof for the deep-rooted conviction that Beattie
was the murderer of his own wife. The lingering
doubt was dispelled. There remained no possi
bility that an innocent man had been executed.
Beattie was convicted entirely upon cirpumptan
tial evidence, and to the last maintained his in
nocence. In these days of writs of error, and
motions for new trials, and the thousand and eno
other delays of the law’s manufacture, it is hard
to realize that a murder has been done and the
murderer punished, in less than half a year. One
month, exactly, after the murder, he was placed
on trial for it. In less than two months from the
night of the awful deed, a jury convicted him of
it, after spending just fifty-eight minutes in de
liberation upon the evidence. He was then sen
tenced to death, November 2 4th being set as the
day of execution. The Supreme Court of Virginia
•refused to interfere, and the Governor also re
fused, and on November 24th, the date originally
set, Beattie was executed. There is the whole
story. The process of THE VIRGINIA LAW WAS
AS INEXORABLE AND AS CERTAIN AS FATE.”
—Editorial in Atlanta Journal, November 25th,
1911.
Could The Jeffersonian adopt a safer guide,
than The Atlanta Journal?
“The law is great!” and so, too, is The At
lanta Journal.
“It protects us.” Both the law and the At
lanta Journal do it.
“It guards our lives and property.” even
though we sometimes have to clear off our in
debtedness with the assistance of the law, by
surrendering such interesting articles of port
able property, as a watch and shotgun.
“The Beattie case is a notable example,
worthy of emulation in other States.”
Excepting the State of Georgia ?
Perhaps the Beattie case was a good ex
ample to follow, in cases where Gentiles were
guilty; but not, when a Jew is guilty.
“Capital punishment—cannot yet be abol
ished it has ben handed down to us through
time: it is almost a divine institution: man
must not tamper with it.”
Why the word “almost?”
As Haman was hanged on a gibbet un
usually high, and the incident preserved in
the Bible, the Atlanta Journal might have
omitted the word “almost;” for surely the
Chosen People were setting up no institu
tions that were not divine.
“Virginia has put the nation in debt for a
lesson that will make human life more
sacred.”
Really? Perhaps the Atlanta Journal
spoke in haste, and would like to take it
back.
In these days of writs of error, and motions
for new trials, and the thousand and one
other DELAYS, of the law's MANUFAC
TURE, it is hard to realize that a murder
has been done, and the murderer punished, in
. less than half a year?'
It is hard to realize, indeed!
These days of 1915 are very similar to the
days of 1911. If there is any change, it is
The Atlanta Journal.
The writs ’of error still flourish : motions for
new trials still abide with us; the thousand
and one other delays of the law's manufac
ture, are even more numerous, and robust,
than they were in 1911, when The Atlanta
Journal was so indignant at their existence,
their variety, and their number.
How furious, then, must be the anger of
the Journal, at the manner in which Frank's
case is being spun out, and carried around, on
the endless chain!
It is a source of great comfort to The Jef
fersonian that it can quote such a high au
thority as the Journal, in behalf of outraged
Justice, and against those flagitious, mercen
ary people who deliberately obstruct the Law,
“in those days of writs of error, and motions
for new trials, and the thousand and one other
delays”—not to mention extra trips to the
Federal courts, and to the Prison Commis
sion.
Is it expecting too much of that nobly dis
interested patriot, Hooper Alexander* to look
forward to his reading to Bob Davison and
Tom Patterson, the severely virtuous edi
torials which the Atlanta Journal published
on llie Beattie case?
CALL MASS MEETINGS!
Unless the people of Georgia want to be
run over, and burdened with an issue that
will moan the bitterest of politics, for many
years to come, let them immediately CALL
MASS MEETINGS, at the
AND SPEAK OUT!
Let the Governor and the Prison Commis
sion hear from the people.
Let the members of the Legislature be pre
pared for the seige that is being prepared for
them.
“Georgia is on trial!” they insolently say.
Before whom?
Who dares to usurp jurisdiction over a sov
ereign State?
Let Georgia be true to herself! Let Georgia
show the world that we will cater to no out
side influence, political or financial.
Let us do unto b rank what we would have
done unto Jim Conley, had Frank pointed to
Conley as the guilty man. and proved that he
had been in the habit of pursuing girls,
proved that he wanted this particular girl;
proved that he had gone into a private room
with one of the girls, in this very building, m
the day time, and remained in there with her.,
behind the closed door; proved' that Conley
was in the habit of lurking about the girls’
dressing room* and had gone in there when
girls, half-dressed, were there, and had leered
at them so suggestively that they complained
to the fore-lady; proved that the blood spots,
and the hair of Mary were on Jim's floor;
proved that Jim was missing, at the very
time the girl was missing, and at the very
time when, as other facts show, she must have
been assaulted and killed; proved that Jim
was so nervous, fidgety, and excited, that, he
couldn t sit still, couldn t talk connectedly,
and pretended not to know the girl, although
! four white witnesses swore positively that ha
did; proved that Jim tried to buy evidence,
tried to scare witnesses, tried to bribe wit
nesses, and, to cap the climax, that Jim had
‘ a wife who would not come about him when
he was first arrested, until after three weeks
had passed!
’ Os course, it would not matter materially,
if Frank did prove that Jim Conley shrunk
behind his legal privilege, and did offer
himself for a fair cross-examination.
But when the man to whom that terrible
aray of evidence points, is a white man. a
\ college graduate, and the manager of a fac
tory whose work-men and work-women fur
nish. the evidence against him, it sinks deep
• into the mind, carrying conviction, when he
; shrinks from questions.
For eight hours, Luther Rosser grilled Jim
Conley, and did not feaze him.
Not fdV eight minutes, would Leo Frank
allow Hugh Dorsey to grill him.
. My lords, what do you think of that differ
ence, between the negro and the Jew?
I
Talk about those notes?
Upon whom do the notes endeavor to fix
the crime?
UPON THE NIGHT-WATCH, NEWT
LEE!
Upon whom did Frank endeavor to fix the
crime, immediatelv after his arrest?
UPON THE NIGHT-WATCH, NEWT
LEE !
How do you explain it, Mr. Rosser?
> How do you explain it, Mr. Powell?
’ • Jim Conley made no effort whatever to fix
• the crime on Newt Lee, or on anybody else.
Turn to the evidence of Frank’s own de
tective, Harry Scott., and read what he says
about Frank’s private talk with Newt Lee,
his hints at Newt Lee, and his report— after
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