The Jeffersonian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, July 15, 1915, Page PAGE TWO, Image 2
PAGE TWO hearing; and that the employment of de tectives, at that desperate stage of the game, was notice to the world that desperate methods were needed to save a guilty man “-a man whose guilt had been proven in the usual way, by those legal processes cre ated by law for that very purpose. And the reason why Burns and Lehon aroused such intense indignatioii was, that they intimidated and bribed the State’s wit ness, George Eppes; that they intimidated and bribed the State's witness, Duffy; that they paid S2OO to a preacher to make a false affidavit; threatened the girl wit nesses with compromising disclosures of their private lives, unless they perjured themselves in behalf of Frank; offered to buy off R. P. Barrett with "a barrel of money” and a good position in New Or leans; and used the most extraordinary means in the effort to get rid of the damning testimony of the State's witness, Miss Mon teen Stover. Let me give you the facts as to how Burns and his crew went after that irre proachable young lady: the information be ing given to me by one of the oldest mem bers of the Atlanta bar, a thoroughly reli able gentleman: I had an interview with Mrs. H. W. Edmond son, the mother of Monteen Stover, who said: At the request of Mr. Samuel A. Boorstein, at torney at law, who had been taking an interest in the case, about four weeks ago she and her daughter. Miss Monteen Stover, went to his office. After talking about things in general, the Mary Phagan case was incidentally brought in. About that time, Detective Burns made his appearance in the room- As soon as she found out who he was,,she arose from her chair and started to leave the room with her daughter, when the lady ste nographer immediately took hold of her daughter and tried to detain her; that she jerked the child aloose from her and started towards the door; that the stenographer tried to prevent her from going out, and that she pushed her aside and led her daughter out, and returned home. About the middle of last week, the wife of Leo Frank called at her home with Rabbi Marx. This was in the morning, and took up with her the matter of her daughter’s testimony; that she told them that her daughter had sworn to the truth in court, and told the same story that she told her immediately after the killing of Mary Phagan; that they then left. Tn the afternoon of the same day they returned, bringing Detective Burns with them. Detective Burns remarked that he had come to apologize for what had happened shortly before that time in the office of Mr. Boorstein; that Mrs. Frank said to her daughter, Monteen Stover, that one little word from her would help her so much, and she was again told, that what she swore in the court was the truth and that she would not/ change it. Detective Burns said, “Well, you will have to bear the thorn.” I have some other infermation that I will get the straight of about Daniel Lehon, the detective that Burns bad to come here to take charge while he was in New York, Chicago and Cincinnati, in vestigating something about the case. I hope to get this information and send t oyou at once. It will be a copy of the statement sent here by the Chief of Police of Chicago. (This reference to Dan Lehon concerned the Chicago police’ records, which showed that Burns' lieutenant is as vile a scoundrel as Bums himself.) Now, ask yourself this question: When two so-called detectives one branded by the United States Government, and the other by the Chicago police records —are hired by the rich connections of a criminal (whose conviction has been finally confirmed by the unanimous voice of the Supreme Court), to destroy evidence, on the one hand, and to manufacture evidence, on the other; and when these unscrupulous rascals come into your community and carry their lawless methods to such un paralleled lengths as I have already indi cated. what is the community to do* IN SELF-DEFENSE? Burns fled from Georgia, not because he was Investigating, but because he was hir- THE JEFFERSONIAN ing some men, and trying to hire others, to swear to lies, in order that an extraordi nary motion for a new trial for Frank might win in the courts. Out in lowa, where he addressed the bankers, Burns said, a few weeks ago: “Frank is as innocent as I am, but the Atlanta police are so determined to fix the crime upon some one, after the many murderers that have gone unpunished, that they are satisfied to con demn an innocent man. They selected Frank as their victim, because he was the last person known to have seen the girl alive, and they knew he was a Jew, and that on this account racial prejudice would assist them.” What does the official record show, on this point ? It shows, that the Atlanta police and de tectives made every possible effort to trace the crime away from Leo Frank', in this, they were aided by Frank himself. Because of the dark hints of Frank against the negro night watchman, the At lanta police and detectives arrested him, and kept him manacled in jail. Frank saw him, in that condition; and went through the pretense of trying to get the innocent negro, Newt Lee, to confess. But Newt says that Frank hung his head all the time, and used the expression, “Newt, if you stick to your present story, we will both go to hell.'’ (In his statement to the jury, Frank did not deny this.) The Atlanta police and detectives failed to make progress against Newt Lee, al though Frank suggested they search his premises, where a bloody shirt was found in the negro’s clothes barrel —placed there by somebody who wanted to save Frank, by finding “a nigger in the woodpile.” (They are still trying that game.) After the failure with Newt Lee, came the effort to fix the crime on J. M. Gantt. Why Gantt? Because Frank had hinted, and insinuated to the Atlanta police and detectives, that J. M. Gantt knew Mary Phagan well, and was, perhaps, too inti mate with her! Because of Frank's hints and insinua tions. the Atlanta police and detectives ar rested J. NI. Gantt. Here, then, we have the record showing that nobody was after the Jew. but that the Jew was after two perfectly innocent men. So far from its being true that the At lanta police and detectives “selected” Frank, because “they knew he was a Jew,” they exhausted every effort to get clues leading away from him; and they were eagerly willing to avail themselves of all the help that Frank could give them in do ing so. The official record shows it! It was not until after the complete break down of the efforts to take the crime to any other persons, That the police and detec tives were forced to believe that Frank and Conley were the guilty parties. And when Frank’s own detective, Harry Scott, had to give up hope of clearing Frank; and the accusing hand was laid upon the Jew, it immediately transpired that the Jew had already employed the best law firm in Atlanta! In other words, the Jew had, virtually accused himself before the Gentiles accused him. When did a thing like that ever happen before ? And the very time that Frank was accus ing Newt Lee, and J. M. Gantt, of the crime, he had thrown an anchor to wind ward, by employing Luther Rosser’s .firm to defend him, Frank. Slaton rushed to Frank's defense on this vulnerable point, by telling mankind that Frank’s friends employed this big law firm for him. Let ns see if that explanation is beneficial to Frank. , Who were his officious friends, that had the ducats to retain such a high-priced ar ticle as Rosser’s firm? They were Jews—the Montags, Seligs, &c. Then, the Jews employed lawyers for Frank, before Frank was accused, by the Atlanta police and detectives. In other words, the rich Jews suspected that Frank would need the best legal talent, before the Gentiles suspected it! This shows what they thought, as to who assaulted and murdered the little girl. If you believed that your friend was in nocent ,and that there was “not a scintilla of evidence against him,” would you take it upon yourself to employ lawyers for him? No other man in Atlanta was blessed with that particular variety of “friends.” It was a breed peculiar to Leo Frank. No friend of J. M. Gantt rushed secretly to a lawyer’s office, before Gantt was ac cused. Newt Lee had no such extraordinary friends. So far as I know, Leo Frank is the only man in Georgia whose friends were ever so- certain of his guilt, that they secretly hired the best lawyers, before anybody had accused him of the crime. Therefore, the literal fact is, as our official court records prove, THAT THE RICH JEWS OF ATLANTA WERE THE FIRST TO SUSPECT LEO FRANK- OF THE CRIME. And there is one other terrible detail which Frank never mentions, which Burns never mentions, which Hearst never men tions, and which Slaton dared not mention; and it is this: For three weeks, Leo Frank's wife's ab horrence of her guilty husband was so un conquerable, that she resisted all efforts to persuade her to go to see him at the jail. Thus we have the appalling truth of the case: the Jews, on the inside, knew of Frank's guilt, and acted upon that knowl edge—the Seligs, and Montags, by secretly employing lawyers; and the wife, by refus ing to associate with him. To the end of time, they will never get away from those two facts. John M. Slaton, the gubernatorial part ner of the law firm employed by the rich Jews who knew Frank to be guilty, in tended all the time—as a last resort—to save the client of his law firm; to stultify his own record in the Milburn and Cantrell cases, and to give Frank what the Supreme Court Justices unanimously refused, towit, a re-hearing. The elaborate arguments of the attor neys, and the pretended weighing of the voluminous evidence, was mere stage play and sham: Slaton never intended that HIS CIA ENT should hang. Do the out-of-Georgia papers catch thd point ? It is time they did! Instead of hailing Slaton as a hero, they should see him as he is: they should be willing to see the prosaic fact, that the rich Jews hired a law firm which enjoyed the immense advantage of having one of its members in the office of Governor; and that after the other members of the firm had failed, all along the line, the guberna torial partner rescued his guilty client. The Bible tells us that no man can serve two masters: it tells us that he will be cer tain to betray one of the two. Which one did Slaton deceive? He shamelessly continued to be a law-partner of Luther Rosser and Ben Phillips while they had charge of Frank's case; he refused to respite his client, and leave him to the - incoming Governor Harris. jf Therefore, Slaton placed himself where, f