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' ' ' ' ' \ THE ATLANT l GEORGIAN AND NEWS, ^ 3_ TRAGIC FACE OF STRANGLED MARY PHAGAN-NEW PICTURE STUDIES A photographic study of the victim in the strangling mystery showing the sad expression in her eyes. Another picture of the Phagan girl in a studious pose. The child was strikingly pretty and the pictures here shown are from photographs prized by grief-stricken rlatives in Marietta. Mary Phagan and her young aunt, Mattie Phagan, who was one of the girl s best friends and is heart-broken over the tragedy. John Milton Gantt, the accusation of a terrible cnpie hanging: over him, from his cell at police headquarters, has made to-day a complete denial of any connection with the Mary Pha gan murder in the first formal state ment to the public since his arrest in Marietta yesterday afternoon. The statement, which was given to a Georgian reporter, was said by Chief Beavers to be substantially the same as that taken by the police de partment stenographer last night for the use of the city detectives. This remarkable denial, if it is to be given credence, sweeps away a whole train of circumstantial evi dence that appeared most strongly to connect him with the brutal trag edy. He Is Contradicted. E. F. Holloway, timekeeper for the National Pencil Company, told a Georgian reporter that he had it from Gantt’s own lips that he had beBti out with the.Phagan girl. He never even walked home wPh the girl, he insists. Mary Pirk, one of the girls em ployed with Mary Phagan, told the authorities that she had heard the girls at the factory say that Gantt was in love with Mary and waited to walk home with her frequently. Gantt declares in his statemeii; that he was at the home of his half- sister, Mrs. F. C. Terrell, 284 East L/inden Street, the night that the murder was committed, going there directly from a cool room. A woman describing herself as Gantt’s half-sister, is said by the po lice to have told two plain clothes men that Gantt was not there wh n they went to look for him Sunday night: that he had not been there for some time and was on his way to California. Reverse Statements. To-day Mrs. Terreal reversed the statement that is said to have been made to the plain clothes men and declared that Gantt not only wig there, but slept with her son. Will. Gantt’s statement in full foliows: ' factory Saturday afternoon. My pu - pose in going there was to get a pair of shoes I had left there when I quit work there about three weeks ago. “After getting my shoes from the factory, I walked around town for a time and a* about 7:30 in the even ing met Arthur White, who works for the pencil company. With hi;n I went to the Globe Pool Rooms in Broad Street, near Marietta. “I didn't play, but sat down and watched them for several hours, .leaving there probably at 10:20 o’clock. I went to the home of my helf-sister. Mrs. F. C. Terrell, 284 E.%#t Linden Street, where I have been staying and she let me in the house. Mrs. Terrell’s husband is su perintendent of the Forsyth Build ing. Slept All Night. “1 suppose she let me in about 11 o’clock and I went directly to bed. I slept all night unt?l Sunday morn ing. “I didn't hear of the murder until Sunday night when 1 went to call on a young woman with whom I have been going. She is Miss Annie Chambers, of 18 Warren Place. I went there about 8 o’clock Sunday evening. “Her brother Phil’ who works at the National Pencil Company’s plant, rushed Into the room and said that a girl had been murdered in the base ment of the factory. He did not know who it was. That was the very first I heard of the crime. “I did not learn the horrible de tails of the murder until I read them in the papers Monday morning. “I was not trying to escape when I went to Marietta Monday morn ing. I had bought a crop near Ma rietta and was going up there to farm. I had made arrangements some time ago with my mother to see her Monday and my trip there was simply tc fill that engagement. Basest Sort of a Lie. “I would not harm any girl, least of all the daughter of Mrs. Coleman. Ten years ago I knew Mrs. Coleman when she was Mrs. Phagan and lived near Marietta in Cobb County. Mary was just a little girl then about four years old. From the time I knew her then as little more than a toddling child until 1 went to work in the pencil factory last June 1 never saw her. “I never went out with Mary after I started work in the factory. I nev er walked home with her. I never | was any more to her than I was to the 175 other girls at the factory. 1 spoke to her as I might to any of the others, but that was all. “The charge that 1 had any part in her destruction is the basest sort of a lie amd an injustice.” Talk of Habeas Corpus. The determined fight instituted to gain the immediate freedom of Gantt was another of the new features of the most sensational tragedy Atlanta has had in years. Backed by relatives of influence and a family of good repute. Gantt was no more in his cell at police headquarters than an effort to obtain his liberty was started. Either give him an immediate pre liminary hearing or I will institute habeas corpus proceedings,” was the ultimatum delivered to Chief of De tectives Lanford by Judge George F. Gober, member of the law firm of Gober & Jackson, and a relative of the accused man. “He is an innocent man. He is as guiltless as the babe In arms. He is entitled to an Immediate hearing on this terrible accusation that has been made against him. Either this must be granted or I will take a course to obtain his liberty.” As Chief of Detectives Lanford re fused the immediate hearing, the au thorities awaited in expectancy to ob serve the success Judge Gober would IS THE GUILTY MAN AMONG .THOSE HELD? Is the murderer of Mary Phagan among the four men who are being held at police headquarters, or is he still at large, either among those still unsuspected or among those who have been severely quizzed by the officers? The men still in custody are: 1—Newt Lee, negro night watchman, who is thought to know much more about the crime than he has to’d, but who has not been regarded as the perpe trator; 2— Arthur Mullinax, former street car conductor, for whom a strong alibi has been established, and from whom suspicion is shifting; 3— G-eron Bailey, negro elevator boy, who has been held as a material wit ness, but against whom no evidence has been obtained; 4 -J. M. Gantt, former employee of the National Pencil Company, located at the plant on Saturday, and identified as the “man with a little girl on Saturday night.” In neither Muliinax’s nor Gantt’s case do the police place much depend ence on the so-called identifications. meet in attempting to carry into exe cution his bold defiance of the de tective force. The prominence of young Gantt’s family added interest to his case. He sides having Judge Gober for a rela tive, he is the nephew of ex-Repre- sentativc Samuel R. McClesky, of Cobb County, and his own family is well known and respected. His moth er is Mrs. Mary Louise Gantt, whose home is near Marietta. His father. J. L. Gantt, died two years ago. Young Gantt is about 23 years old and single. Striking Personality, He has a striking personality. He appears fully four inches above six feet and weights about 185 pounds. The puzzling testimony of E. L Sentell, grocery clerk, and E. S. Skip per, of 224 1-2 Peters Street, is re ceiving the attention of the police to day. Sentell remains as positive as ever that it was Mullinax he saw Saturday night with little Mary Phagan. He declares that he had known Mary practically all her life and could not help but recognize her when he met her a few minutes after midnight with a man companion. He has told the police that he .‘aid: “Hello, Mary,” and that she replied, “Hello, Edgar.’’ "That’s the man,” declared Sentell wqen he was brought face to face with Mullinax. “That’s the man, I'm quite sure,” said Skipper, when he saw Gantt. Neither man was absolutely sure, but each was fairly confident that he had picked the right man. Whether to believe one or the other or neither was the problem that confronted the police when they started their work to-day. If you have anything to sell adver tise in The Sunday American. Lar gest circulation of any Sunday news paper in the South. SLAYER’S HAND PRINT LEFT ON ARM OF GIRL Hope for apprehension of the slayer of Mary Phagan has come to the police with the discovery of distinct finger prints, stamped in blood on the sleeve of the dead girl’s jacket. The discovery was made by a Georgian reporter in the course of a minute inspection of the girl’s clothes yesterday everting. The finger prints are on the right arm of the* light silk dress. The imprints of two fingers are just below the shoulder, staining purple the lavender of the child’s dress and penetrating to the arm, as if they were established al the pressure of powerful fingers grasping her arm. A third print is that of a thumb, blurred somewhat as with a great pressure, but offering possibilities of analysis. With the discovery of the finger prints, detectives employed in the ease be lieve they hav a tangible clew. The Kertillon system of detection will be brought into play, and suspects will be placed through its unfailing catechism. The search for other finger prints will be made zealously. Detectives of the Pinkerton agency, s< ceral of whom are on the ease, are known to affect largely this mode of detection, on the theory that every man has his distinctive finger prints, and that the impressions of the fingers of no two individuals are identical. The evidence borne in finger prints is regarded as conclusive in modem courts. On this fact the police of Atlanta to-day are Imping more firmly than ever that they will be successful in tluir trail of the man who killed little Mery Phagan. Dr. .J. W. Hurt, County Physician, conducted last night a close examination of Mary Phagan s body, in the effort to deter mine the nature of the injuries infheted by her brutal slayer. He entered alone the chamber in which the dead girl lay, and at the conclusion of his inspection refus d to make a report of what he had found out. . F. C. Terrell, 284 East Linden Ave nue, tol l a Georgian reporter to-day that his wife, had declared to him that she did not tell the truth to the detectives and Georgian reporters to whom she had said that she did not know where J. M. Gantt, accused of the murder of pretty Mary Phagan, was on Saturday night. When seen soon after the discovery of the defcd, Mrs. Terrell stated that Gantt, who is her half brother, had left her home where he had been for the past seven years, three weeks ago, presumably to go to California and that she had not seen him since. “Most certainly he was in his room here Saturday night,” declared Mrs. Terrell to a Georgian reporter to day. “He came in at 11 o’clock.” “Slept With Me.” “I ate breakfast with Mr. Gantt Sunday moaning,” said a young wom an, an inmate of the Terrell home. “Yes’’ said little Willie Terrell, “Mr. Gantt slept with me Saturday night. And I had to wake up at 4 o’clock to get my little brother up to carry my papers and Mr. Gantt was still in bed.” “No, I had not seen Gantt for three weeks,” declared F. C. Terrell, broth er-in-law of the accused. A mo ment later, Mr. Terrell said that Gantt had been back in town for four or five days and that he was certainly in his house Saturday night. “I hoard my wife get up and let him in at 11 o’clock,” declared Ter rell. A Georgian reporter called at the Terrell residence to find that Mrs. Terrell was iri a state approaching a qervou* collapse and much excited in her manner. She was vehement in her declaration that Gantt was in bed at 11 o’clock Saturday night In a . few momi ents her hus band. who is engineer • at the Forsyth Build- ing ca me in, i ind bef ore seeing his wife w ■as interviewed by a reii orter. Strange Contradictions. “Yes, said he, “Gantt had been gone three weeks and I hadn’t se< n anything of him. He was a quiet fellow in his habits, always came home early at nights and we were surprised to hear that he is suspect ed of this crime.’ “The first I heard of it was Mon day morning when my brot her-in law, J. N. Gantt at Marietta called me up and told me they had arrested < lantL" “But did not you just say that the detectives were here at your house Sunday afternoon and h <d questioned your wife as to Gantt’s whereabouts,” asked the reporter. "Yes,'' was the reply, “but my wife did not tell me anything aoout the detectives being out here. “You see my wife has not been well for a long time and she whs very nervous and scared and she did not want the detectives fooling around here and she told them a story' to keep them from corning again. She admitted to me that she had falsified to them. “I heard my wife get up at 11 o’c lock and let some one in, and she told me if was Gantt.” “I thought you said that Gantt had left here three weeks ago and that you did not know anything about him,” volunteered the reporter. Sure He Came in. “Oh, no! He had been back here four or flvo days. He started to California, to Los Angeles, to take a position, but didn't get any further than Memphis. He ran into the floods out there, got tied up and de cided to come back. “Yes. I am sure my wife got up and let him in: I was awake at the time. And I saw him Sunday morn ing top.” Mr. Terrell declared that he had just left the police station where he had seen and talked with Gantt. "He’s Just as cool as a cucum ber," said Mr. Terrell, “and he laughs at the idea of his being accused of the murder. He Is Just as confident of being cleared as if it was already decided.” Keeper of Rooming House Enters Case J. W. Phillips Thinks Couple Who Asked for Room May Have Been Gantt and Girl. Mas the young woman who, in company with a young man, applied to John W. Phillips, keeper of a room ing house at Forsyth and Hunter Streets at about 11 o'clock Saturday night for a room, Mary Phagan, the little girl who was found murdered the following morning? And was Gantt the man with her? Phillips was not positive to-day. He saw r the young woman in the morgue at Bloomfield’s undertaking establishment, and it is understood he positively identified her to city detectives and the County Solicitor. She looked very much like the young woman, he said, but he would not make the positive statement to a re porter to-day. He went to police station this morn ing to see Gantt and declared the prisoner looked much like the man who applied to him for a room. Bartender Confirms Gantt's Statement Says Phagan Suspect Left Pair of Shoes in His Place Saturday Evening. Charles W. McGee, of Colonial Hills, a bartender in the saloon of J. P. Hunter at 38 South Forsyth Street, almost directly across from the National Pencil Company plant, corroborated to-day the story told by J. M. Gantt about leaving a pair of shoes in the saloon from Saurday night until Monday morning. “The man I Judge to be Gantt from the description came into the saloon, but stayed only a short time,” said McGee. “I noticed nothing suspicious about Gantt or the man who was with him.’* Chicago Theater Will Hold ‘Remnant’ Sales Cuts to 50 Cents $2.50 Seats Unsold Hour Before the Performance Begins. CHICAGO, April 29.—-A "remnant” sale of tickets is announced by a leading downtown theater. Hereaf ter all seats unsold at 1:30 o'clock on matinee days and 7:30 o’clock at night will be sold at 50 cents. The first of the sales will be to-morrow night. Regular prices range from $2.50 to 75 cents. Managers of other theaters said the plan would bring about a omall advance sale and a jam at the box office an hour before the curtain rose. ATLANTA HOTEL CLERKS AFTER 1914 CONVENTION Members of the Southeastern Greet ers' Association will Rather in Atlanta from four States May 4 to go in a special train to Chattanooga for their annu il convention. The association is composed of assistant hotel managers and clerks. The Atlanta delegation will make an effort to get the 1914 convention for this city. SLAIN AS HE FORCES ATTENTIONS ON GIRL CHICAGO, April 29.—While at- tempting to force his attentions on a girl, Antonio Morosco to-day was killed with an axe. More than a score of persons witnessed the kill ing. Pasquale Forte, the girl’s brot? er, is being sought as the slayer. CODING! See Big Bargra -v BASS’ IV1AY m Ad in Wedn