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Vol. 12, No. 30
Slaton’s Home-Coming and Some Questions That He Must be Pre-
A MISTAKEN notion prevails, that John parcel, to Answer. sumption that Frank would need the best
As m • 4.1 £ •» t 1 ~ , . . ,
A MISTAKEN notion prevails, that John
M. Slaton is rich, and is therefore not
a subject for a Jerusalem temptation.
Slaton may be rich now, but he wasn't,
when we elected him Governor, in October,
1912.
He had married a widow whose father was
rich, but her father had tied up the prop
erty, so that no husband of hers could dis
sipate the inheritance.
The parental precaution may have been
necessary, in the case of Tom Cobb Jackson,
the first husband, but it was wholly super;
fluous when Sally Fanny Grant married
John M. Slaton.
Extremely conservative in spending ducats,
is John M., especially in the matter of pay
ing taxes.
A penny saved, is a penny made; and
John M. has made many an honest penny,
by the simple process of heading it off from
the Tax Collector.
When one lives in the midst of wealth,
and breathes the atmosphere of easy opulence,
one naturally yearns to possess a pile of
ducats belonging to one’s self.
A wife with a large life-estate is a good
thing; and a wife with a large estate in
fee simple, is still better; but best of all to
a man of the common calibre, is a big estate
of his own, to do with as he pleases.
Slaton has not been blessed with children,
and therefore he cannot even enjoy old man
Grant’s millions by seeing them reflected in
his descendants.
So, the facts, as they existed in October,
1912, were about like this:
(1.) An ambitious politician who had
never made much money practising law r , and
who had to go to his brother-in-law", John
Grant, every time he needed campaign
funds.
(And it was commonly rumored that
John Grant w r as getting mighty tired financ
ing the campaigns of John Slaton.)
(2.) A man that had got used to rich
living; and that had a wife whose riches
would end with her life; and that nat
urally dreaded the idea of being left almost
penniless in a cold, bleak world,, after hav
ing grown accustomed to wealth.
(3.) A man. therefore, peculiarly subject
to temptation by a sudden and prodigious
sum of money coming from Jerusalem.
Now r add to all this, the fact that Slaton
went into an expensive, unsuccessful cam
paign for the United States Senatorship
in 1914, and suffered the mortification, not
only of defeat, but of an exposure of his
own crookedness in making tax returns for
his wife, and you have a man w-ho, in 1915,
may readily fall a victim to financial allure
ments coming from Jerusalem.
I merely remind you of these details, to
remove from your consideration the idea
that Slaton was too rich to covet greater
riches.
If any lover of money ever got so much
that ho didn’t want more, that person is
not John M. Slaton.
If Slaton ever comes back, here are some
plain, fair questions that he must answer to
the satisfaction of the people of Georgia:
Thomson, Ga., Thursday, July 29, 1915
(1.) Why did he go into a co-partner
ship with Luther Rosser, after Rosser had
publicly appeared as leading counsel for Leo
Frank?
Slaton was soon to be inaugurated Gov
ernor, and for the period of two years, fol
lowing June, 1913, he could not openly prac
tise law.
What use did Rosser have, in May, 1913,
for a partner who could not openly act as
partner until after June. 1915?
Slaton must answer this question!
Rosser had been partner to Judge Roan,
and had been partner to other lawyers; but
he never needed such a lightw’eight partner
as Slaton, until after Leo Frank murdered
Mary Phagan.
The partnership between these tw’o black
sheep was not formed immediately after
Slaton had been elected Governor.
October and November, and December, of
1912, passed, and Rosser did not feel the
need of lightweight Jack.
January, February, and March, of 1913,
passed, and still heavyweight Luther does
not feel the need of lightweight Jack.
Nearly all of April is gone, in 1913, and
yet Luther does not feel himself gravitat
ing J ack-ward.
But during the last days of the month,
Frank kills the little girl: and then, in the
next few" days, Luther feels that he must
have Jack.
WHAT FOR?
The police-officers did their level best to
get up a response from Leo Frank's house,
the night Mary’s body was found, but they
could- not do so.
The police-officers rang up Haas and Mon
tag, and easily got them.
Why couldn’t they get Frank? Tie was
drunk!
Why couldn't they get Frank's wife. or
one of his parents-in-law-—the amiable
Seligs, one of whom swore at the trial that
she w’as hot at all interested in the murder
of the girl!
The reason w’hy the members of Frank’s
family would not answer was, they were
afraid. They heard Frank rave about the
murder.
So, Haas and Montag knew" before day
break, Sunday morning, that a dead white
girl lay in the basement of the Montag
Frank-Haas pencil factory.
Monday morning, the next day. Rosser
shews up, luminously, as retained counsel for
Frank!
IT/zo employed him? AND WHY?
No Gentile had accused Leo Frank.
What caused Haas and Montag to suspect
him ?
Or do these typical estrays from the Holv
Land, care so little for money that they
employ the most expensiye law firms, as a
mere display of virtuously accumulated
ducats ?
Haas and Montag assumed that Frank
would bo accused. Why?
Haas and Montag acted upon the as-
sumption that Frank would need the best
lawyers that money could employ. WHY?
You cannot believe that Rosser’s retainer
w r as less than $2,500: why did the rich con
nections of Frank turn loose that pile, in
advance of any Gentile charges against
Frank?
There is but one answer that consists wfitli
Jewish avarice and Jewish shrewdness, and
that answer is — they knew that Frank was
guilty!
If they did not learn it from the amiable
Seligs, on Sunday, they learned it by find
ing the murdered girl's mesh bag and pay
envelope in Frank's safe, the same day.
Since studying the evidence in the case, it
has been perfectly clear to my mind that
Haas and Montag had those missing articles;
and I have been expecting that they would
discover some Ragsdale or Barber who
would providentially happen upon those lost
articles—to the complete vindication of the
Martyr to Mob Violence and Race Hatred.
Either from the safe, or from the amiable
Seligs, Haas amt Montag learned Frank's
guilt on the same day the corpse was found;
ai d these champions of innocence and law,
at once pussy-fcoted to Rosser.
And soon after Rosser grasped the horrors
of the case, he pussy-footed to the man who
would soon be Governor for the newt two
years.
Smart men are liable to one fault: they
are apt to be too smart.
When Rosser formed that sudden, unpre
cedented and most culpable alliance with
the Governor-elect, he saved his client, but
at too great a cost.
He disgraced himself forever: he ruined
Slaton: he inflicted a wound upon our
judicial system that may prove to be in
curable: be fatally undermined public con
fidence in State authorities, and thus gave
encouragement to Lynch law; and he be
stowed upon us a hateful legacy of race
hatred—a baleful gift w/e did not want.
(2.) Another question that Slaton will
have to answer to the satisfaction of the
people is this:
Why did he say, last year, that the re
sponsibility for a verdict was on the jury,
and not on the Governor; and why did he,
this year, take that responsibility upon him
self. by re--vying the Frank ease, and reach
ing a different verdict from that found by
the jury?
The law- was correctly stated by him last
year: it was incorrectly stated by him,
tbiis year: the law- has undergone no change:
why did. Slaton undergo a complete change?
Whv was not tho law of 1914, the law of
1915?
Tell, us!
(3.) Another question is—
Why did Slaton publish a falsehood on
cur Supreme Court, by telling the w’orld
that it had no authority to review' the evi
dence. and tn set aside a verdict?
Slaton has carried criminal cases to the
Supremo Court, and he knows that the Con
stitution of Georgia gives the Court pre
cisely the same jurisdiction over questions
of evidence, as over questions of law.
Price, Five Cents
