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3 THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. MONDAY, APRIL 28.1912. / COULD TRUST MARY ANYWHERE HER WEEPING MOTHER SAYS FREE PONIES AND CARTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS - ■■■■■■■Iiwill .■■IIPITmmmmm . — ■ i ■ ■ SEE PAGE 6 rnrr theater tickets riVCC FOR EVERYBODY SEE PAGE 4 FREE IS. COLEMU PROSTRATED BY CHILD’S DEATH “No Working Girl Is Safe," She Sobs, Overcome by Her Suddeti Sorrow, mpn, Mary wap pretty, too; and. be- GIRL SLAIN IN STRANGLING MYSTERY ,17.™T;| daughter ot Mrs. *1. W. (’oleimin, 146 Lindsay Street, whose slain body was found in the basement of the National Pencil Factory,! 37-39 South Forsyth Street. The girl left her home Saturday morning to go to the factory, where she had been employed, to draw) v ages due her. She was seen on the streets at midnight Saturday with a strange man. She was not seen dive thereafter. I ig on th*» bed in her little home on Lindsay Street, prostrated with sorrow over the murder of her 14- year-old daughter. Mary Phagan, Mrs. W. J. Coleman sobbed out the pitiful story of how sweet and fresh her child had left home Saturday, and issued a warning to all Atlanta mothers to guard the welfare of their own daughters forced to work for a living. "There are so many unscrupulous men in the world,” she cried. “It's so dangerous for young girls working out. Their every step should be watched. Mothers should question them and ask them about their work and associates and surroundings. They should continually tell them what they ought to do, and how they ought to act under certain circum stances.” Girl Liked Work. She declared that she never would have permitted Mary to go out to work at the age she did—12 years - if it hadn't been that there were five children in the family and It was absolutely necessary for all of them to earn something toward their sup port. That was before she married her present husband, Mr. Coleman. ‘That was a year ago,” said Mrs. Coleman, “and then it wouldn’t have been necessary for Mary to work. But she had got into the habit of it and liked it. and I thought she could take care of herself as she al ways had.” "Oh. *he poor baby'.” she sobbed. "I did talk to her! I did tell her what to do! 1 was always telling her And she took my advice, 1 know, because she was always so sensible about everything. Besides, she never was a child to flirt or act silly. That’s why 1 know that when she went away with this man who killed her she was either overpow ered or he threatened her.” Mrs. Coleman said that girls ought to look out for themselves, too, and never permit any familiarity from men. “When a girl is pretty," she de clared, ‘‘naturally she is attractive to HORRIBLE MISTAKE, PLEADS MULLINAX, DENYING CRIME Arthur Mullinax, identified as the man who was with Mary Phagan at midnight Saturday, a few short hours before her dead body was found, and now a prisoner in solitary confine ment at police headquarters, declared to a Georgian reporter that his ar rest was A terrible mistake. He declared that he had never seen the girl except as “the sleeping beau ty” in a church entertainment in which both took part last Christmas. Here is hh? complete story: “I had absolutely no connection with this affair and have been wrongfully accused. Sentell is horribly mistaken when he says he save me in company with Mary Phagan shortly after mid night Sunday morning in Forsyth Street. I did not even know the girl —that is, never had been introduced to her—and had never been anywhere wfth her in my life. Sleeping Beauty.” # T had seen her one time. That was last Christmas at an entertain ment given in the Western Heights Baptist Church. We both took part in that entertainment. She played the part of 'the .sleeping beauty,’ and I did a black face act and also samg in a quartet. “But I was not even introduced to the girl. During the entertainment the girl remarked to me that I was a good black face artist, but this was all that passed between us. I have never been with' her at any time since then, much less at midnight. “As to my movements Saturday night, I can easily explain them. Af ter supper, I called on a girl friend, Miss Pearl Robinson, who lives in Bellwood Avenue, and we came do-vn town on the English Avenue car, We got off of the car at Marietta and Forsyth Streets and walked directly across to the Bijou Theater. We saw part of the first show and part of the second, leaving before the per formance had concluded. We then boarded a car, and I took Miss Roo- inson directly to her home. Slept Soundly. “I talked with her there about fifteen minutes, I should judge, and, bidding her goodnight, returned to my boarding house at 60 Poplar Street, in Bellwood. On arrival there, I gave Mrs. Emma Rutherford, ny landlady, a dollar, for some work done on my clothes. “Mrs. Rutherford slipped the bill under her pillow, and I went on to my room and went to bed. And* I Standing with bared head in the doorway' of his Marietta home, with tears falling unheeded down his fur rowed cheeks, W. J. Phagan cried to heaven for vengeance for the mur der of his granddaughter, fourteen- year-old Mary Phagan. and vowed that he would not rest until the mur derer had been brought to justice. In a silence unbroken save by the sound of his own sobs and the noise of the gently falling rain, the old man lifted his quavering voice in a passionate plea for ttie life of the wretch who had lured the littl.e girl into the darkness of a deserted build ing and strangled her to death. It was an infinite grief—the grief of an old and broken man that Mr. Pha gan expressed when, with hands out- slept soundly until late Sunday morn ing. “The only time I was on Forsyth Street Saturday night was when Miss Robinson and 1 left the car at Forsyth and Marietta Streets and walked across to the Bilou. “Horrible Mistake.” “This is absolutely all I know of thig affair. I had nothing to do with it, knew nothing of it, and, being a stranger to this dead girl, certainly had no motive for wishing to get her out of the way. It’s all a horrible mistake. I’ll have no trouble prov ing an alibi and showing myself in nocent.” When Mullinax was locked in a cell at 10 o’clock last night, instruc tions were given that he not be al lowed to communicate with anyone. spread imploringly, he invoked divine aid in cringing the murderer of the child to justice. “By the power of the living God.” prayed the old man, his voice rising high and clear above the patter of the rain and the roar of a passing train. “I hope the murderer will be dealt with as he dealt with that in nocent child. 1 hope his heart is torn with remorse in the measure that his victim suffered pain and shame; that' he suffers as we who loved the child are suffering. No punishment is too great for the brute who foully mur dered tl»e sweetest and purest thing on earth—a young girl. Hanging cannot atone for the crime he has committed and the suffering he has caused.” GIRL’S GRANDFATHER VOWS VENGEANCE sides that, she was always happy and in a good humor. She had never stayed out any night before in the two years she had been at work. I could trust her anywhere I knew' be cause she was always so straightfor ward, and w'hat I thought when she didn’t come home was that she had met up with her aunt from Marietta, w’ho was in town, and had gone home with her and had no way to let me know.” Too Young to Know. She covered her face with her hands. “And to think that at the time I was thinking that she was in the hands of a merciless brute! Oh, if only Mr. Coleman had happened along the street and found her! They tell me she was crying on a corner at 12 o’clock and this man she was with was cursing her when a police man came up and asked her what was the matter. She just told him she had got dust in her eye. I guess the reason she didn’t say anything was because she was afraid the man would kill her. and. In fact, just didn’t know what to do. She was too young.” But with everything. Mrs. Cole man said, it wasn’t possible for a mother to be with a child all the time or to stave ofT all harm that could come to her with advice. “Even with the greatest care, it looks like things w'ill happen any way—we don’t know how or why,” she declared, weeping. “Oh. it’s ter rible to think of a young girl coming to her death like that! And she had already started home when this man met her and made her come back to town with him!” So Young and Bright. “Often J watched Mary on the car when men would look at her,” Mrs. Coleman said, “but she never paid any attention to them. I think she must have made the man who killed her mad, and that's why he did it.” She said that when Mary left the house Saturday she had only intend ed to go to the pencil factory to draw the little salary that was com ing to her $1.60. “If you could only have seen her,” she told the reporter. “She looked so beautiful and so young and so bright.! She said she was only going to see the parade before she came home. And look now! I am so sorry for all other young girls working every where! To think that they’re all open to the same things, and there is nothing to protect them; it’s so hard on mothers; it’s so hard on every body. Rut there doesn't seem to be any help for it. and that’s the worst part of it all.” GIRL AND HIS LANDLADY DEFEND MULLINAX Declaring her belief in the absolute innocence of her sweetheart, Arthur Mullinax, in the murder of Mary Pha gan, pretty 16-year-old Pearl Robin son made a pathetic figure as she ap peared before Chief of Detectives Lanford this afternoon and accounted for the whereabouts of Mullinax Sat urday night up until about 10:30 ! o’clock. With Miss Robinson \vri> Mrs. Em ma Rutherford, the landlady of Mul linax, and her two sons. Thomas and i James, who took up the moves of ; Mullinax from the time he left Miss ! Robinson until the next morning, es- I tablishing what appears to be a com- 1 plete alibi. In order to establish the | alibi Mrs. Rutherford had to contra - i diet entirely a statement she made : last night to th police in which she had said that she knew' nothing of where Mullinax was from noon Sat urday until Sunday morning. Call Mullinax “Good Boy.” “Arthur is a good boy,” said his loyal little sweetheart. • I know he would do nothing bad. He was too good and true. He was with me Saturday night from 8 o’clock until nearly 1 1 o’clock. We went to the Bijou theater together and left before it was over. We got home about 10:30 o’clock. “Arthur stayed for ten or fifteen minutes, talking to me. and then he started for his rooming house, which is only a short distance from where 1 live. “I stayed on the porch a few mo ments and I could hear him whistling as he went down the street an turned into Poplar Street, where h - lives. When the whistle died out, I judged that he had reached home. “1 have known Arthur for about five months and have gone around to dif ferent places with him. He always has been kind and good, and a per fect gentleman. I never heard him mention the name of the Phagan gi except the time he was in an amateur entertainment with her. "I know he couldn’t have conimi*- ted the crime about which he has been questioned.” Landlady Changes Statement. Veering directly from her form r statements and, in conjunction with Miss Robinson, establishing an ap parently unshakable alibi for Mulli nax. Mrs. Rutherford told the poll'e detectives that Mullinax lmd come to her home. 60 Poplar Stieet, where he roomed. Saturday night shortly before 11 o’clock. She said that she was asleep at the time, but that her 15- year-old daughter heard Mullinax come in and saw him leave $1 for a payment on some clothes he was pur chasing. , He went to his roo-m and a few minutes later her son, James Ruther ford. came in and found him asleep in the hod which they both occupied, au- cording to Mrs. Rutherford. Thomas Rutherford, another son. went to Muilinax’s coat about 11:30 o'clock to get ea cigarette Mullinax aws asleep, he said, and ne was stlil asleep at 5 o’clock in the morning, ac cording to James. Mrs. Rutherford said that her ex citement at the presence of the de-. tectives was responsible for her other I statement in which she declared she had seen nothing of Mullinax from noon Saturday until Sunday morn ing. "I was so confused that I didn’t know what I was talking about.” she said. In her first statement to the police she said that Mullinax paid her the $1 Saturday noon and left th. house. From this time until Sunday morning, she said, she knew nothing of his whereabouts. Bed Found in Factory Wall. Another important discovery was made this morning by detectives who continued their search of the base ment of the National Pencil Com panv’s building on Forsyth Street. Built into the wall on one side of the basement, the police found a se cret compartment, in which was a cot. improvised from old boards and a blanket. The footprints of a wom an, found near the cot. is evidence that some woman had been in the small room recently. There were also slgnso f a struggle, the earth in front of the cot being disturbed. Several large footprints, presumably those of a man, were found near the cot. The coroner’s jury was shown this room when it made an investigation of the plant this morning. Based on the finding of the cot in the secret room, the police have evolved a theory that the room has been used as a rendezvous, and that the negro janitor. Newt Lee, knew of any permitted its use. Employees Severely Quizzed. J. A. White, 59 Bonnie Brae Ave nue, and Harry Denham, 660 East Fair Street, were put through a severe quiz to-day by the police detectives in an effort to find out if they had any knowledge of the circumstances lead ing up to the murder. Both are’ employees of the pencil company and they were the onl.v workmen In the building Saturday, so far as Is known. The others were off because of Memorial Day. Th£y said they were working on the fourth floor from about 9 o’clock in the moining until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but that they saw no, girh about the factory while they were there, # The police are investigating the statement of White, w ho said he had heard one of the girl employees saj that the front doors of the building were seen open at 8:30 o’clock Satur day night. Newt Lee, the negro watchman, who is supposed to keep the doors barred and locked, will be asked to explain This if it Is true. They said the. - had talked with ^eo Frank, the superintendent, about 1 o’clock in the afternoon and that he had told them to go at 3 o’clock. Man Forcing Girl Along. Charles Hall, of 25 White Oak Street, a chauffeur for the sanitary department, believes that he saw the girl being led by a man toward the pencil factory at about 12 o’clock Sat urday night. He said to-day that he drove hia brother and a triend to Alabama and Forsyth Streets at midnight, where they took an East Poin sLreet car. He went into a Greek fruit stand nearby and when he came out he was at tracted by the sight of a man appar ently having trouble in forcing the^ girl to accompany him. Hall declares that he would know the man again if he saw him, and will go to headquarters to look at Gan; this afternoon. A Double-Good Breakfast What will you serve for tomorrow’s breakfast—griddle cakes, waffles, muf fins, biscuits?—any one of these will be great with Velva -that good syrup. It makes all goodies like these better, and makes the family relish its meal. ss IVvessSSS with the RED LABEEisthe finest syrup (or making candies, fudge, cakes. It simply can't be beaten for making toothsome desserts. Velva is a wonderful spread for bread beats other sweets, goes fur ther and tastes better. Little chaps like it and they knoiv. Velva in the green can, too, at your grocer’s. Send now for the free illustrated book of Velva recipes. It tells you ways of using syrup that you’ve never thought of. and their goodness will surprise you. These recipes are all by the cooking expert of the Ladies' Home Journal, and everyone of them is a good one. No trouble to send you a copy upon receipt of your name and address. 1PENICK & FORD, Ltd. New Orleans, La. r i’iiis youth, formerly a street car con- t .i Tor, is held in connection with the ARTHUR MULLINAX investigation of the slaying of M ary Phagan in the basement oi the National Pencil Factory in South Forsyth Street. He stoutly denies any connection with the crime.' and deelares his arrest is a horrible mistake. lie has accounted for himself, and likely will he released.