Newspaper Page Text
I
M 1
GUILT ILL BE
FIXED Blf NIGHT,
OFFICIALS SAT
TI1K ATLANTA GEORGIAN AM) NEWS. TUESDAY. APRIL 20. 1010.
ISS PEARL ROBINSON, sweetheart of Arthur Mu'linax,
the man questioned by the police in connection with the
slaying of Mary Phagan. Her story cleared Mullinax of any
suspicion of complicity in the crime which has shocked Atlanta.
Admit Chain of Evidence Is Still
Tangled, but Assert Solu
tion Is Near.
•rr*/ <*f pretty little
ipped the net that
ar»*ftilly spread for
Has the mu
Mary Phagan
■he police mof
hliti ?
Ir the Author of the crime that
shocked the city and State with its
terrible brutality still at large?
Is the mystery, as baffling in its
myriad conflicting elements as It Is
revolting In Its details. *tlll as far
from solution as It was when the
beaten and bruised little body of
Mary’ Phagan was'found lifeless in r i
pile of trash and litter In a Forsyth
Street basement?
When the city detectives and Pin
kertons picked up the twisted skein j
of evidence this morning they ad
mitted that they were as badly-
tangled as when they laid them down
after working incessantly upon them
until long after midnight.
They are positive, however, that the
guilt will be almost certainly fixed he-
fore nightfall. It only remains to
follow each thread of evidence out to
“To what person will the damning
thread lead?” Is the question that is?
holding the entire city in suspense.
No other tragedy In years has so
gripped the people as this one of the
laughing, innocent girl lured to her
death.
Wheft the final truth Is known will
the accusing flnger-point of guilt be
leveled at—
Newt Lee, the negro night watch
man. against whom suspicion was
strongly directed to-day, although he
at first was held only as an Important
witness.
Or—
Arthur Mullinax, of 60 Poplar Street,
formerly a street car conductor, who
was the firr* man arrested and se
riously regarded as the possible mur
derer. The evidence against him Is
slight.
Or—
J. M. Gantt, an employee of the Na
tional Pencil Company until three
weeks ago, arrested as ho got off a
car in Marietta yesterday. The evi
dence against him is far from con
vincing.
Or—
Geron Bailey, negro elevator man
in the pencil factory, who was ar
rested at about the same time as
Mullinax and held as a material wit
ness
Or—
Some man whose name has not been
previously mentioned In connection
with the case.
Police Expect Results.
The police are confident that they
will know In a few hours the Identity
of the slayer.
Chief Beavers, Chief of Detectives
L&nford, Detectives Black, Starnes,
H&elett, Rosser and Bullard and Pin
kerton operatives were on the case
again early this morning. Out of the
many clews obtained yesterday they
expected to get a definite lead and
bring order out of the confusion that
hampered the first two days’ work.
They have everybody in custody
against whom suspicion has been
strongly directed. They have a mass
of Information and a mass of testi
mony, much of which is conflicting.
From this they will eliminate the in
accurate and Improbable and proceed
carefully to weave the net of evi
dence.
No mystery In recent years has
served to excite the public mind as
the Phagan murder Detective head
quarters have been thronged with per
sons who have believed that they had
clews to the perpetrator of the crime.
All day yesterday was a ceaseless
procession going Into the detectives'
offices and another procession coming
out. The officers were harrassed as
much as they were aided.
Many Worthless Clews.
Countless persons came to give
general Information about Mullinax,
or Gantt, or Lee, or Bailey. Others
tame to Identify Mullinax as the man
they had seen with a girl on a certain
street at a certain time Saturday
night. Others were ?»ure that it was
Gantt they had seen.
Some of the information was abso
lutely worthless and some was re
garded as furnishing possible clews.
While some of the officers were
hearing the various tales of these peo-
LOYALTY SENDS GIRL
TODEFENDMULLINAX
Brave little Pearl Robinson!
Her loyalty and devotion to Arthur
Mullinax, one of the four men held
in connection with the brutal
strangling of Mary Phagan, form th*
only bright feature in a sordid and
revolting crime.
What did she care for the stares
of the groups of people that hung
about the detective headquarters
when the life of her lover appeared to
be In danger?
What did she care for the re
marks that were directed at her when
she pushed and shoved her way
through the morbid crowds awaiting
for a new sensation?
What difference did it make to
her that her name instantly would be
on the lips of everyone as the defend
er of a man pointed out by one wit
ness as the mysterious person with
little Mary Phagan the last time she
was seen alive?
Love Gave Her Courage.
It was the ages-old story of a wom
an's heart refusing to believe nny ill
of the man to whom it is pledged and
devoted.
In the young heart of pretty Pearl
Robinson was implanted that eter
nally feminine and eternally remark
able attribute as deeply as though
she wore twice her 16 years.
She knew Arthur Mullinax, liked
him, probably loved him with the Im
plicit trust of a woman. He had
been good to her, kind to her, and
always gentle and courteous. Tha*
was enough, lie could not have been
guilty of the terrible deed that has
shocked a community as it has not
been shocked before in years.
1 Feel as Though I Could Die/
Sobs Mary Phagan’s Sister
Suggestive Illustrations Clipped
From Magazines Pasted Up
About Scene of Tragedy.
]
And she was not afraid to tell to
the world her confidence In t?ie In
nocence of the man toward whom the
wavering and shifting finger of sus
picion had pointed at various times
since the authorities began following
out the many clews of the baffling
mystery.
She was astounded, overcome, when
she read that Mullinax had been held
in connection with the gruesome kill
ing. How could they associate him
with such an act—that of a fiend and
beast? When the first shock had
passed she was all action. She w’ould
tell the officers their mistake. She
had no sooner made up her mind than
she proceeded to carry out her Inten
tion.
“Arthur Did Not Do It!”
A few minutes later she was in the
office of Chief of Detectives LanforJ.
She was surrounded by sharp-eyed
and keen-minded detectives. Th.it
did not disconcert her in the least.
She trembled from the thoughts cf
the terrible crime with which the
name of her lover had been linked, but
not from any fear of the guilt of him
she had come to defend.
“Arthur did not commit that awful
deed,” she told Chief Lanford, in a
positive and not-to-be-contradicted
manner.
That settled it. She had said the
final word. Of course, she went on and
told-of his movements on the night of
the tragedy, and with the aid of his
landlady established a very strong
alibi. But that was incidental in her
mind. All that mattered and was of
consequence was what her heart told
her—"Arthur did not do it.”
Pictures of Salome dancers in
scanty raiment, and of chorus giris
in different postures adorned the
walls of the National Pencil Com
pany’s plant. They had been clipped
from a theatrical and prize-fighting
magazine.
A more melodramatic stage setting
for a rendezvous or for the commit
ting of a murder could hardly have
been obtained. The .building is cut
up with partitions, which allow of a
person passing about from one part
to another without attracting the at
tention of others. While the main en
trance is used in gaining entrance to
the building, the first floor is vacant,
this space having formerly been
leased out by the National Pencil
Company. A person could enter the
building, descend the ladder to the
cellar and not attract the attention
of those above. One could likewise
move from one floor to the other with
out being noticed.
Stygian blackness greets those who
enter the cellar. Two gas jets afford
a flickering, sickly light, which seems
only to add to the pitchy darkness.
Temptations Many.
That temptations probably were
laid across the path of the girls who
worked in the plant was not denied by
Superintendent Leo Frank. Instead
he admitted that It was highly prob
able.
“In a plant of this size, where 170
people are employed, and among them
a large number of girls', it is quite
probable that some of them were ap
proached by some of th£ men work
ing in the shop,” said Mr. Frank. “A
force of this kind is continually shift
ing, and undoubtedly many low char
acters have worked there. It has been
our effort to eliminate them as much
as possible and the foreman have
been strict in this regard.
“Under the present conditions of
morals in Atlanta, with the segregat
ed district abolished, these low char
acters undoubtedly have grown worse
That our janitor was bribed to allow
them in the building, while a surprise
to me, is not an unbelievable sugges
tion. Such fellows as these might be
expected to stoop to such things.”
HOT SPRINGS
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eturn.
-all you ne
BU
pie, other detectives were putting the
prisoners through a grilling examina
tion of their whereabouts at ©very
minute of Saturday night.
Third Degree for Lee.
Newt Lee, the black night watch
man. was given the “third degree” in
the belief that he knew much more
about the crime than he professed.
He showed signs of weakening seve-
al times, but each time recovered be
fore he had made any admissions se
riously damaging either to himself
or any of the other prisoners.
The shifting of suspicion to Lee
was the most startling development
of this forenoon, although what basis
it had in actual evidence is hard to
determine. It is known that the Cole
man family are inclined to believe
that he knows a great deal more
about the crime than he has been
pleased to tell. Screams in the build
ing were heard by persons in the
livery stable nearby, according to
stories current to-day. How could
Lee have made his rounds every half
hour and not have heard them, mem
bers of the Coleman family ask.
O- L. Bagley, shipping clerk for
the Atlanta Milling Company, was
with Gantt Saturday night and left
him a few minutes after 10 o’clock,
according to a statement to a Geor
gian reporter. Bagley declared;
“Gantt is but a ci
>f mine, though 1
aequaitanv
known hi:
1
Din and
mght in
ed to
him some time. My brother and a
friend of Gantt’s, named White, were
playing a game of pool. Gantt does
not play and we sat down and
watched my brother and White. About
10 o’clock Gantt and myself strolled
out of the pool room and walked
around. We went a block or two out
Whitehall Street, then turned and
came back, walking back to Alabama
Street and up Alabama to Broad
Street. 1 told Gantt that l was going
to catch a car and he said he would
go back to the pool room. I noticed
that he walked up Broad Street. m>
car came along and I went home. I
caught the 10:30 o’clock car.
Had Started West.
“In the course of our conversation
Gantt told me that he had left Atlanta
to go to San Francisco and had gotten
as far as St. Louis but had been held
up there several days on account of
high water. He said he then changed
his mind and came back to Atlanta.
"He also told me that he probably
would go to farming; that his mother
had offered to give him a 500-acre
farm near Marietta.
“That Gantt could have met th«
Phagan girl later in the night and
committed the crime appears improb
able to me, as most of his conversa
tion Mas about him preparing to got
married in August. He svemed to b<
very much in love with the young
lady.*
“Ou meeting Saturday night was
accidental. I had not seen him for
three or four weeks and asked h>m
where he had been. He then told m*
of going to St. Louis,** _
‘Bally’ Customs Men
Hold Wedding Gifts
Sir Wilfred Peck Declines to Pay
Duties on $10,000 Worth of
Presents for His Bride.
NEW YORK. April 29.—This is Sir
Wilfred Peck’s opinion of the United
States customs officials, expressed to
day:
“I say, my word, what a bally,
blawsted. mercenary set you cnaps
are."
Sir Wilfred landed to-day on the
liner Lapland. With him were about
$10,000 worth of bridal presents in
tended for Miss Edwina Thornburg, a
St. Louis beauty and heiress to whom
he will be married on May 7.
The customs officials insisted on
turning Sir Wilfred’s trunks topsy
turvey, after which they told Sir Wil
fred he would have to pay 45 per cent
duty on the presents. Sir Wilfred
balked.
"I cawn’t do it. ’y’know,” he ex
claimed.
“The mercenary chaps” were ob
durate. Sir Wilfred finally quit the
pier, leaving his wedding gifts behind.
Among all .the hearts that are
bowed down in sorrow over the mur
der of Mary Phagan, the 14-year-
old factory child found dead in the
National Pencil factory Saturday,
there Is none who feels the suffer
ing and the anguish of the separa
tion so keenly as her sister, Ollle, 18
years old, her companion since child
hood.
For with her it is the suffering of
youth, when the roue-veil of life has
been lifted to show Its tragic and
terrible side In all Its fullness for the
first time. And It is all the more
pitiful for her because it ig the kind
of suffering that brings to one that
sense of despair and a later sadness
that makes the whole w’orld seem
never quite the same again, no mat
ter what happens. Something of Its
sweetness and Joy has gone out to
stay.
“Oh, I am so lonely without her.”
the young girl told a Georgian re
porter as the tears fell down her
face unheeded. She was atfier little
home on I.indsay Street. "Mary and
I were always together and we al
ways told each other everything. We
slept In the same bed at night: we
had ever since w’e were little bit o’
kids; and we always talked after
the lights were out. There wasn’t a
thing that Mary wouldn’t tell me,
and I would always advise her and
tell her what I thought was right if
little questions would come up be
tween us. She was always such a
good little thing, nobody could help
loving her!”
She clasped and unclasped her
hands In front of her as though she
did not know what to do, and leaned
upon the bureau as if she were
tired.
“1 Never Had But One Sister.”
“I don’t know w’hat I’m going to
do—I haven’t got anybody now,” she
said. “I never had but one sister,
and she’s .gone.*
Her voice choked and she could nert
go on for a time. When she did it
was to speak of how she w r as in Ma
rietta when the tragedy happened
and how the news came home to her 1
mother o:i Sunday morning. She had
not been home'to go to the poor little
body , In the undertakers’ parlors
shortly after it was taken there.
“The first mother knew’ of it all
wad a‘little before 5 o’clock Sunday
morning.” she said, her lips quiver
ing. “A girl named Helen Ferguson,
who lives near her© and who has a
telephone, was called up by Grace
Hicks, the girl who identified Mary’s
body. Grace told her to come right
on over and tell mother what had
happened.
Saturday night when Mary hadn't
come home they had all been worried.
Mary had said she was coming right
back after the parade, but didn’t show j
up. Then somebody remembered she
had said she had heard the show' at
the Bijou was good—some of the girls j
had told her—and she would like toj
go, but she wouldn’t go without she j
had some one to go with her. When I
she didn’t come home a little later
they all thought maybe she had found
some of the girls anyway and gone,
and so Mr. Coleman, her stepfather,
went downtown to bring her home.
He waited until the show was over
and everybody had filed out of the
theater, but Mary was not with the
crowd. Mr. Coleman had returned
home and found Mrs. Coleman and
another woman, who had stayed with
her while he had gone to town, "till
up and waiting for him. Then was
when they decided that Mary had met
up with her aunt from Marietta and
gone home with her. She had intend
ed going anyway Sunday.
“But I know r MffVy’s safe,” said Mrs.
Coleman, and iffter a few minutes
they all went to bed.
The Awful New3.
When Helen Ferguson’s footsteps
touched the front porch at 5 o’clock
the sound waked her mother imme
diately.
“There’s Mary now!" Mrs. Coleman
exclaimed as she sat up on the bed.
“No, it i.-Ti’t either,” declared Mr.
Coleman. “I feel it’s news for us, and
bad news.”
Mrs. Coleman went to the door.
“Mrs. Coleman,” said Miss Hender
son. “did you know that Mary had
been killed?”
"Oh, it can’t be possible!" her moth
er sobbed. "What do you mean? I
don’t understand you. Tell me how.
Maybe you’re mistaken—maybe it
isn’t Mary.”
But Mis.-« Henderson said that Miss
Hicks was positive in her identifica
tion.
And then Mr. Coleman came out
and brought her mother in the house,
she was crying so, and then as quick
ly as he could be dressed and went
downtown to look at the body. There
was no mistake. It was Mary.
Her voice was pitifully like a child’s.
when J'he had finished, as she asked
The Georgian reporter if jbe thought
the man woulcLbe capture*.
“If they get him they ought to treat
him just like he treated her,” she de
clared. “Oh. my poor little sister! He
had no iiitw/or her. and they oughtn't
to have artv Hhr him. Oh, God, I just
feel as Jf I could die.”
Sh?Will .attend.the funeral of her
sister in Marietta, going jwith the
family Tuesday. She was formerly
employed at a downtlwfi department
store, hut recently g«re up her posi
tion. She is very pretty and attrac
tive, slenderly built and resembles her
sister to some extent, it is said.
Old Arctic Pioneer
To Seek Polar Dead
Capt. Peter Bayne, 69, Survivor of
Hall Expedition, 1866-69, Mfiy
Find Franklin Victims.
SEATTLE, April 29.—Capt. Peter
Bayne, 69, probably the last survivor
of Dr. Charles Hall’s expedition thai
.‘■♦ought for three years, beginning In
1866, for traces of the remains of the
Sir Jphn Franklin expedition has un
dertaken to complete the work he
began as a young man.
He has purchased the old Arctic
schooner Duxbury and is now out
fitting her for a cruise to Victoria-
land. where Sir John Franklin's body
Is buried in a tomb made by Jiis
HIGHER COST OF DRUNKS
STRIKES ANNISTON, ALA,
ANNISTON, AT.A., April 2». A
beer or “red-eye" spree in Anniston
on Sunday is as expensive as cham
pagne on any other day.
Some time ago Recorder Croon an
nounced that he would raise the line
$1 every Monday morning for persons
convicted of being drunk on Sunday.
The price has now reached $30.
Next Monday the price for plain
Sunday drunks will be $31.
Germany’s $250,000,000 Gold.
BERLIN, April 29. -The statement
of the Imperial Bank of Germhnv
shows for the first time in its his
tory that there is over $250,000,000
in gold in the vaults of the bank.
♦
The Kind You Have Always Bought has borne the signa
ture of Clias. II. Fletcher, and has been made under hi*
personal supervision for over 30 years. Allow iio on©
to deceive you in this. Counterfeits, Imitations and
Just-as-good 99 are hut Experiments, and endanger the
health of Children—Experience against Experiment.
What is CASTORIA
Oftstorin is a harmless substitute for Castor Oil, Tar.-
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contains neither Opiuui, Morphine nor other Narcotic
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and allays Feverishness, it cures Diarrhoea and Wind.
Colic. It relit ves Teething Troubles, cures Constipation
and Flatulency. It assimilates the Food, regulates the
Stomach and Dowels, giving healthy and natural sleep.
The Children's Panacea—The Mother’s Friend.
The Kind You Have Always Bought
Bears the Signature of
Favorite Horse Shot
as Owner Is Buried
Widow Gave the Order and Will
Erect a Monument Over Steed
of William Mayer.
NEWPORT, April 29.—As the body
of William H. Mayer, the society
four-in-hand whip was being lowered
»in his plot at che Island Cemetery
lus favorite gray horse Ironbar was
put to heath and buried in the rear |
of the Slate HI I! Farm.
This was done by direction of the
witTOW who will later erect a monu
ment for the horse.
Mrs. Mayer and her husband had i
nany times ridden behind Ironbar t ;
Newport, so many times that ever;>
man. wo than and child knew his
no mo
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The Allen Corset
Department
COMPLETE WITH CORSETS OF
MANY GOOD SORTS
OuV Corset patronage lias grown to the point of a great broadening
in our Corset Department, taking in several new lines of distinctive
worth. Since the introduction of the Treco and the Regaliste Corsets
last Fall, we have added the P. N. and C. B.—two Corsets of splendid
repufaton.
Our famous Mme. Mariette is w r ell known, and among higher-priced
numbers there isn’t a better Corset in the world.
The Regaliste and the Treco are the Corsets of necessity in this
day of Grecian lines, and our handsome models are irresistible in their
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Mme. Mariette Corsets,
Regaliste Corsets .
B. & J. Treco Corsets .
C. B. Corsets .
Eloise Corsets ,
P. N. Corsets
$5 to $25
$5 to $35
$3 to $15
$3.50 to $12.50
. $1.00 to $3.50
. $1.00 to $2.00
i
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rassieres and Corset Drapes
«
All necessary and many luxurious Corset accessories are to be
found in this complete Corset Department. Brassieres of easy style,
from plain lace and embroidery trimmed to those of handsome hand,
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Over the close-fitting brassier is worn the dainty drape of shadow
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Brassieres
Drapes .
50c to $7.50
$2.00 to $5.00
—Second Floor.
J. P. ALLEN & CO. 51 and 53
Whitehall
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