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KARST'S SUNDAY AMERICAN, ATLANTA, C.A., SUNDAY, MAY 11. 1013
SEALED AFFIDAVITS MAY SOLVE THE PHAGAN MYSTERY
Modern Third Degree Barbarous, Says Judge Candler Ma ry Phagan* s Death Is the Only Fact
Developed in Inquiry Into Factory Crime
Detectives Should Make, and Not Give, Evidence
mi HE SMS
Robert T. House, a Special Po
liceman, Gives New Evidence
to City Detectives.
In the evidence obtained Saturday
In the Mary Phagan case, one piece
that the detectives regard as the most
important bore on Frank's alleged
conduct when he was In company
with a young girl In Druid Hills Park.
The new evidence came from
Robert F. House, a special police-
inair. who le In the employ of th*
Druid Hills I*and Company House
declared that he had ejected a
man from the purk at one time from
whom he obtained damaging admis
sions
House visited the county Jail and
was taken to the cell of Frank. Ha
Identified Frank as the man whom
he sent from the perk. House told
the officers that since reading cf the
Phagan murder he had recalled that
the man he ejected from the park
told him that he was superintendent
of the National Pencil Company.
Came Frequently to Park.
The park guard related that the
Incident to which he referred occur
red more than a year ago. He said
that he had noticed the man come
frequently to the park with the girl.
When they appeared one afternoon
shortly after 2 o’clock, he mu!<1 he
determined to shadow them He fol
lowed them and then suddenly sur
prised them by Jumping into view.
The man whom House Identified
as PYank came forward and told the
officer that he did not want the girl’s
identity to become known and pleaded
with House not to have them ar
rested. House declared that the man
was profusely grateful on his assur
ance that he would not do so.
House hap made a sworn statement
In regard to the occurrence and will
be used as a character witness
against Frank.
New Testimony 8«cret.
Sealed affidavits, particularly one
made by a person whose Identity has
been kept secret by the police, are
expected to help raise the curtain of
mystery which has hitherto enveloped
the death of little Mary Phagan
when the case Is presented to the
Grand Jury the latter part of this
week.
The affidavits were furnished to
Solicitor Dorsey by Chief of Detec
tives Hanford and number among
them that of Monteen Stover and a
'mysterious person.” It Is said that
the latter was la close vicinity of
the pencil factory on the afternoon
of the tragedy and heard the screams
of the ill-fated girl.
Solicitor Dorsey yesterday declared
that the sealed documents had not
seen the light of day since they w ? ere
signed by the witnesses and handed
to him. The Solicitor Intimated,
however, that in these affidavits the
State expected to find the chief pow
er for its prosecution of the cane be
fore the Grand Jury.
Great Mass of Evidence, He Saye.
So far, Mr. Dorsey declared, no
one had been taken into his confi
dence, save one detective, whom the
Solicitor termed "the greatest in
America-” The two have accumu
lated a great max* of evidence, In
cluding samples of handwriting; of
almost every one who might nave
been concerned In the tragedy; also
photographs and other material which
might direct the accusing finger of
the law in the right direction.
Solicitor Dorsey would not discuss
the finding of the medical expert
who made an examination of the
slain girl's body upon Its second ex
humation. However, great Impor
tance is attached to it.
Despite the great mass of evidence
already obtained, and which the So
licitor is now shaping for Its pres
entation to the Grand Jury. Mr.
Dorsey declared that the “erlmlnn.1
expert 1 ' still is busily engaged on
other phases of the puzzling case,
the greater part of which is expected
will be in substantiation of the sealed
affidavits' contents. No detail is be
ing overlooked, and when the case
goes to trial Mr. Dorsey said that he
expected to have every link In a finely
woven chain of circumstances per
fected.
Lee's Attorney Makes Statement.
Bernard L. Chappell, attorney for
Newt Lee, the negro suspect, said
yesterday that he had accepted the
<ase only after an investigation of
five days that convinced him the ne
gro had told nothing but the truth In
connection with the murder. He
said that if any later developments
pointed to the negro’s guilt, he would
not represent him
Chappell was for four years assist
ant to the Solicitor General at Bir
mingham, and said Ms experience in
this conn
the negro
Before ;>
he spent
wdiicn he
tar.gl? bin
pressed w
the fact
advanced
the crime*
them, but
practically
at rhe Co
Dr. Ha
Dr. H.
State Boa
urday nig
that he h
drug in h
of Mury
The rui
Dr Harr-L
report to
he disclos*
cations tin
fore sh
The rumor is belie
from the seer i >
Dr Harris and t
‘ I am not at lib
nn oi den\ tie
§W •
HJB&ke public nothii
innocent
ccepting t
ne case, he said.
hours wit
i Lee dailv. In
< xhausted
every means to
in his sta
tements and ftpd
ence that
le was not tell-
hing that
he knew.
said he \
as stronglv Irn-
ith the n
'gro because of
that wh<
•n theories were
to him tl
at would “shift
’ he woul
i not encourage
stuck to
his statement
as that given
roner’s in-
rris Silent
on Findings.
F. Harris.
director of the
rd of Hea
th. refused Sat-
ht to disc
uss the report
is analysis
of the contents
Phagan's
stomach.
mor spreac
1 Saturday that
» Jiiid sub
mltted a formal
Solicitor 1
>orsev. in wtiicb
ed that he
had found indi-
at the girl
was drugged be-
was attac
ked and killed.
Atlanta Jurist Condemns Useless
Statutes That Tend to Force
Law Violation.
Alderman John H. Candler, former
Justice of the Supreme Court of Geor
gia, yesterday reviewed for The Sun
day American the address which he
delivered before the graduating class
of the Atlanta Law School earlier In
the week.
The address included an Indictment
of Georgia's multiplicity of laws and
of lawyers who work for gain and
for personal success rather than for
the administration of the law—two
ag*m' lea, he said, which breed a gen
eral contempt for all law, inciting
lawlessness.
“It was an attempt to impress upon
the young lawyers a sense of the no
bility of their calling,” he said yes
terday, “and of the solemn respon
sibilities of the legal profession. It
was a plea for the supremacy of the
law and for the single-minded devo
tion of lawyers.”
Supremaoy of the Law.
Reviewing the address, Judge Can
dler mentioned nn article by Gov
ernor Brown regarding the supremacy
of tho law and referring to the at
titude of the Hearst newspapers In
this connection'
‘Strong and good,” was Judge Can
dler's comment.
• No newspaper should prominently
publish the details of sensational af
fairs,” he continued, “unless it keeps
before the minds of its readers the
fact that the publications are not to
be considered evidence in court, or
sufficiently conclusive as to create
prejudice. This The Georgian and
Sunday American have done.
Then he analysed his address be
fore the law students.
"It was along this line,” he said,
*T urged the supremacy of the law.
It was not Inspired by any recent
case, as the Phagan case nor did It
have any connection with a particu
lar case
“I said that there Is evident a dis
regard and a conn nipt for law, re
sulting from the multiplicity of law*
and the laxness with which most of
them are enforced.
"The Lord thought He could run
the world with ten commandments,
but the Georgia Legislature takes 10,-
000. Tills has a demoralizing effect
on the general tone.
“There are | -> many misdemeanors.
That there should be too many of
the graver crimes is a natural result.
That Is one reason why, perhaps, it
has been necessary for me. as a judge
on tho bench, to sentence more men
to be hanged, who have bfcen hanged,
than all the judges of Great Britain
combined since 1860.”
Judge Candler uttered the state
ment with solemn emphasis, and for
a moment was silent. There was
something of awe In his tone.
“Too many laws and laxity of en
forcement breed contempt,” he de
clared. "Just so long as we make
laws by the books full over summer
wo will have laws violated.”
He drew back to his original theme.
Incidental Lesson.
“But all that Is Incidental to the
lesson which I sought to lay out be
fore the young lawyers,” he said.
“They have a duty toward tho State
that makes their calling holy; the
duty Is toward the State even before
it Is toward themselves and their per
sonal gain.
“I told them to get into politics—
that is, if they get In with the right
motive—not for their own advance
ment, but because they know the law
and the theory of law, and can best
serve In the making and administra
tion of laws. That Is the function of
politics, and the function of the law
yer.
“I told them that the lawyer who
seeks only his gain, and not the in
terests of the law; the lawyer who
strives after a verdict favorable to
his client, whether that verdict Is de
served or not; the lawyer who wants
’success' and 'results’ first of all—that
such a lawyer 1s not mindful of the
oath he taken to become nn adminis
trator of the law.”
Tie dug one list Into his palm.
“An administrator, not a Juggler of
the law,” he repeated. “And because
there are lawyers who are Jugglers
of the law we have another reason
why there Is a contempt for the law.
In such nn Instance there is contam
ination and rot ti nners In the foun
tainhead of Justice; surely, then, the
whole Rtream becomes contaminated
and 1 filthy.
“I told them not to Intrude them
selves into their pleading. A law
yer should not tell a Jury I don’t be
lieve this' or ‘I do believe that’ when
he is talking to the twelve men. Such
a statement Ip not evidence; it Is not
regular.”
Here he laughed.
"I told them that some of them
were not even competent witnesses.
But. seriously, such statements re
veal their undue interest or prejudice.
They are the products of either igno
rance or viciousness.
Legal Profession Holy.
'The profession is holy. Its fol
lowers should have a single-minded
devotion.”
J UDGE JOHN S. CANDLER. Ilf blames the multiplicity of
Georgia laws for the contempt the people feel toward
their enforcement.
you have the devotion to duty that
should be the ideal of the detective—
and of the lawyer, too.”
Coercive methods of obtaining evi
dence he denounced.
"I told the young men,” he said,
"that the alleged ‘third degree’ meth
ods, of which one reads nowadays,
are no better than the thumbscrew
and the rack of the Spanish Inquisi
tion.
“Here you have another reason
why the courts and laws are losing
In their command on the public re
spect. Such practices have no place
in the law or In Justice.
Third Degree Not Law.
“Is It law* to take an ignorant man,
work on him until 4 o’clock in the
morning, then flare a flashlight in his
face and say, ‘We know you killed
somebody?’
"And if the ‘wrong man' is pun
ished! Every time the ‘wrong man’
Is punished, safeguards are thrown
about the right man.’ the man who
deserves punishment. Civilization
can not well proceed unless the laws
are administered sanely, calmly, stu
diously, without juggling and with
out ulterior motive beyond the mo
tive of seeing that the law’ is carried
out. The law. you see. becomes a
ailing as high as the ministry or as
any other profession, for the law
yer’s responsibility is tremendous.
“All that is what I endeavored to
tell the young men of the law r
Hchool,” he concluded. “It was not
my intention to denounce customs or
conventions of any nature. The mul
tiplying of laws, the alleged methods
of the detectives, the violations and
disregard of law—all these may find
remedy in the lawyer's devotion to
his duty, and to his oath. This is
what I told them. The other things
were incidental, and merely illustra
tive.
“For Instance—did I say there were
too many law’s? Then I implied that
a lawyer, with his knowledge of the
science of law, can serve his country
by helping to repeal the useless ones.
1 had no Intention to talk of specific
laws. Some may have fancied that
I referred to the prohibition law. I
did not. I favor it.
“Did I mention the fact that de
tectives should not use certain meth
ods? 1 merely meant to imply that
they should follow’ the line of their
duty—to find evidence, not to make it
—and to use this as an object les
son to law’yers, that they also should
do their duty.”
The address was made before 75
members of the Atlanta Law School’s
class of this year. The law’ school
is a local independent institution of
which Hamilton Douglas, a member
of the Atlanta Bar. is dean. Judge
Candler is frequently a lecturer be
fore the classes.
Frank Is Awaiting Action
Of the Grand Jury Calmly
ro\
. :.
Solicitor.”
ml
tor.
er to
my report
He drew upon other professions for
illustration, making them analogous.
In his consideration of the detective’s
prof» ssion, he denounced methods in
vogue among detectives.
“As it should be the lawyer's sin
gle-minded Interest to bring about
the proper administration of the law,
regardless of the effect, so it should
be the business of the detective to
gather evidence; not to give It. A de
tective who would voluntarily go upon
the stand ought not to be believed. It
is his purpose to find evidence, und
to £,-< t othe rs to produce It; not to
make it himself, or to swear that his
evidence is true. The detective is in
interested witness, necessarily, and
therefore not competent.”
1 <dd Allan l^inkerton tk
He mentlo:
os the mode
for the truth
ness of purpe
dler related,
me of an ins'
employed to
Leo M. Frank, calmly and without
any apparent fear or apprehension, is
awaiting the* decision of the 24 men
who will determine this week whether
or not an indictment shall be re
turned against him in connection with
the killing of Mary Phagan.
Yesterday—which was very much
like the other days that he has been
confined In the Tower—he read, said
a few words now’ and then to the
guards, greeted members of his family
as they came to see him and dis
cussed various subjects with them in
a quiet, matter-of-fact manner, not at
all as though the burden of a great
crime were resting on his soul.
Frank Has Privileges.
Except that he is deprived of his
liberty and most effectively guarded,
Frank is not without the majority of
the privileges enjoyed by the rest of
the people In Atlanta. He may eat
what he wishes He may read the
newspapers, the magazines, the cur
rent novels—anything he desires He
may see whom he wishes.
He has not been deprived even of
the accounts of the grewsome tragedy
whose victim was an innocent and
pretty little girl. He has read them
dispassionately, as ho does every
thing. He has followed the various
ries carefully, reserving com-
with
nee wh<
gather
ets that tent ais
the gal low’s. T
who sought | ment, so far as is known, for his
counsel and members of his family.
Ilis relatives have visited him freo-
Daily they have brought him the
Ice delicacies that the spring inar-
^ * j ket nffords. He has not been com-
m- I r** 15 *'- to rel> upon the plain ja'!
ere ’ fare that most of his jailmates get.
single-minded-
“ Judge Can-1
Pinkerton told I
re be had been I t
evidence in a \ ,
use, and where »
This, of course, is not a special privi
lege. Any of those aw’altlng trial or
the action of the Grand Jury may
have the extra luxuries if they care
to buy them.
Several of Frank's close friends
have been in to see him. He has met
them pleasantly, according to the jail
attaches. His lawyer, Luther Z. Ros
ier, also has been in brief conference
with him.
Strain Has Told.
The strain of the nearly two weeks’
imprisonment unquestionably has told
on the young factory superintendent.
He is paler than he was two weeks
ago. He is slightly haggard, but
through it all he has been calm. Im
perturbable.
“I expected nothing else at this
time.” was his quiet comment when
told of the action of the Coroner’s
jury. Since then his attitude has been
the same. He expresses his confidence
that he will be cleared In the end.
He declares his belief that the courts
w ill find the guilty man and that ne
will be set free. Until then he is will
ing to wait and take his present in
carceration philosophically.
GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE IN
CENTRAL MISSOURI FEARED
SKDALIA, MO. May U) —Many
grasshoppers have made their appear
ance in Central Missouri, and farm
ers express the fear that great dam
age will be d°De to growing erepa
this summer. This is said to be the
earliest date grasshoppers have ever
1 • <fi'r, known in such large numbers
in Missouri.
BY JAMES B NEVIN.
Mary Phagan is dead. She was
murdered.
Leo Frank, and Newt Lee are in
jail, upon the findings of a Coroner’s
jury, hold as suspect® for investiga
tion by the Grand Jury.
Here is a case of cause and effect
involving the most elusive series of
connecting events that ever came un
der my observation of criminals and
crime, through fifteen years of varied
newspaper experience In a number
of American cities.
It Is not my purpose here to try
this case. Such comments as I may
set down are personal merely.
I did sit through the last day of
the Coroner's inquest, but beyond
that, my information as to this
strange case came to me by way of
the mouths and pens of persons
charged with some measure of re
sponsibility for fixing the truth of
the matter in such wise as it might
be fixed. My facts are authoritative,
my conclusions strictly my own.
Wherefore, what I say, and the way
I say it, the substance thereof and
the form, must be taken as some
thing said In sincere desire neither
to/prejudice the case for or against
anybody, nor to Influence its final ad
justing in any manner whatever.
It Is my opinion that the slayer
of poor, little Mary Phagan has not yet
been found or identified. More
over within my mind there dwells an
ever-increasing doubt that her slay
er, or slayers, ever will be appre
hended.
Case Against Prisoner*.
As I see it, a wabbly circum
stantial case has been made out
against Frank, apd all but no case
at all against Lee.
All other lines of investigation ap
pear to have been abandoned. Seem
ingly, the prosecution is up against
the necessity of proving that either
Frank or Lee, or pocsibly both, ac
complished Mary Phagan’s murder—
or some person or persons unknown,
and as yet unsuspected, did it.
This case, w’hile amazingly com
plex in many of its phases, still is
astonishingly commonplace in others.
As has happened many and many
times before, the newspapers have
had very few facts to chronicle as
the news of the crime and Its pre
liminary Investigation.
There are few’ newspaper men any
where who do not know all too well
the disposition of the public in sit
uations of this port. Hungry for
sinister facts upon which to fix re
sponsibility for crime, and the facts
not being available, the public pro
ceeds to fix up of its own notion an
assortment of near-facts to suit its
purposes.
The most horrible false details
have been conjured up In some dis
ordered brain hereabout, and imagi
nary facts and circumstances of this
little girl's death have been passed
from lip to lip In revolting detail.
It was bad enough, as It was—but
it was not bad enough, even at that,
for the morbid trend of some peo
ple’s thoughts.
Whispered Detail* Untrue.
Those on the inside of this Investi
gation tell me—and I am speaking of
those who KNOW whereof they speak
—that these w’hispered details are,
almost entirely, without any founda
tion in fact. They say that the
girl’s death was accomplished In cir
cumstances paralleling numerous
cases of a similar sort, but not sen
sationally otherwise.
The newspapers, curiously enough,
have been,shot at from two amaz
ingly opposite standpoints, therefore
—by one sensation-hungry contingent
charging them with underdoing the
news, and by another charging them
with overdoing it!
They were snapped at by some for
printing the horrible truth and by
some others for not printing the
even more horrible untruths.
It has been rather trying of
course—and sometimes I feel that
surely some people must experience
a measure of shame in that they so
readily sought to shoulder blame on
the press of Atlanta for the disap
pointment arising out of their own
impatience that the Phagan mystery
did not clear up as rapidly as their
gnawing curiosity demanded that it
should.
In undertaking to reach an Intel
ligent, fair-minded, and rational
point of view In such a case as the
Phagan murder, albeit primary con
clusions always are subject to revi
sion and readjustment, one should
honestly endeavor to rid his mind of
those things he knows to be untrue
and irrelevant. He should put him
self in the attitude of a juror and ask
himself, upon his honor, if he would
hold thus and so. against this or that
defendant or suspect in peril of hit
life.
When the Phagan case, as con
cerns the suspects now in Jail, is
removed from out the mass of mis
information. near-facts, pure false
hoods, and prejudice, what remains
of it? What is there left that will
stand up before a Jury and fix re
sponsibility for Mary Phagan’s mur
der upon somebody now in custody'
Lee's Straight Story.
I looked Newt Lee over carefully
observed his manner and his general
bearing on the stand, during the sit
ting of the Coroner's jury on Thurs
day. I have studied his testimony as
delivered at the hearing. Lee is
just an ordinary negro. There are
half a million Newt Lees In the
South to-day. He told a simple,
straightforward story from the first—
and no amount of prodding has caus
ed him to swerve a hair’s breadth
from it.
I observed him in the dingy little
Coroner’s cour + room—or in the roonr
wherein the Coroner’s hearing was
conducted—and heard Mr. Donehoo
ply him with questions.
The Coroner made a distinctly fa
vorable impre?*slon upon me. He Ip
alert, certainly most Intelligent, evi
dently feeling both the importance
and the restrictions of his position—
and yet, what came of his examina
tion of Lee? To my mind, nothing
—absolutely nothing, to Lee’s lasting
disadvantage.
If Lee committed the crime, he is
a most unusual negro—rather than
a most eoaunonplaee negro, such as
I take him to be. If he killed Mary
Phagan early in the evening of April
26—and he must have murdered her
early In the evening, if at all—and
remained in the building with her
dead body until 4 a m., then to call
the police, he is the most astonishing
negro that ever came under my ob
servation!
If, however, there were other cir
cumstances tending to show that he
did do it, nevertheless. I might in
cline to waive the first cited unnat
ural and unheard of circumstance,
and say all right, he may have done
It.
Improbabilities of Case.
But w r hat are those ‘‘other circum
stances?” Is there anything one-
half so damaging against Lee as the
very circumstances of the crime and
its discovery and first alarm are fa
vorable to him?
Well, there are the notes. Did Lee
write them after having committed
the deed, and in seeking to turn an
ticipated suspicion aside? Or were
they written by another party neith
er-Lee nor Frank, who, surprised by
Lee, was not permitted to get away
without leaving these notes as evi
dence of Lee’s Innocence, after hav
ing bribed J/?e to silence?
What a mass of improbability? If
Lee was guilty himself and antici
pated suspicion o? himself, w’ould he
not have made off from the scene of
his crime immediately after its con
summation? Nine hundred and
ninety-nine negroes out of every one
thousand would have done that. Is
Lee the only exception in the thou
sand? Maybe so, but it will be ex
tremely difficult to prove it, I sus
pect.
If Lee committed the crime and
then dragged the body to the cellar
of the National Pencil Factory, there
to la> It In the dirt until he sent in
his 4 o’clock alarm, why w’as the
staple of the door leading into the
cellar broken from the outside? Was
this done to arouse the suspicion
that the murderer and the murdered
came into the cellar through the cel
lar door, and that, therefore, the
crime was committed by some one
outside the factory? This necessa
rily would mean that the real mur
derer inside the factory, after com
mitting his crime, dragged the body
to the cellar, then went outside, broke
the staple of the door, re-entered
the building and awaited his next
move, the belated alarm to the police.
Where Was Mary Phagan,
Did Lee do that? He is a most
exceptional negro, if he did. And
yet, if murderer and murdered real
ly did enter that cellar from the out
side. and after dark, or near dark,
what became of Mary Phagan from
the time she was paid oft at noon
until dark or near dark, as the case
may have been? Could she have
been outside the factory any of that
time, or part of that time, and no
living soul be willing to testify to
that fact to-day?
Against all these fine spun theories,
must be set off Lee’s remaining in
the factory certainly many hours af
ter the murder was committed, his
alarm to the police near daybreak,
his straightforward story, and his
satisfactory bearing since the crime
w’as brought to light.
Did Lee murder Mary Phagan? If
not, does he know’ anything of who
did murder her? Or is he utterly
innocent of all connection with it?
Personally, I incline to the last
conclusion, but I may be altogether
w'rong.
It looks to me more probable that
Lee did the perfectly negro-like
thing in this Phagan case, and not
the unusual or very-much-out-of-the
-way thing.
Well, if not Lee, was Leo Frank
concerned in this killing?
A jury likely will pass upon that,
for I suspect the Grand Jury will in
dict Frank. There is some circum
stantial detail connecting him with
this crime that may or may not
mean much.
I looked Frank over critically at
the Coroner’s inquest. Just as I look
ed Newt Lee over.
Appearance of Frank.
Frank looks very unlike the tradi
tional murderer. That spells little
If anything, perhaps—at least, noth
ing of itself. And yet a man’s .gen
tlemanly appearance should count for
something, when there is nothing
much established against him other
wise.
Frank evidently Is of a nervous dis
position. He is more or less fidgety,
and, rather think, a trifle "pushing’
in his ordinary manners. I think,
too, he Is self-opinionated—maybe
when a boy he was pretty “fresh.”
But withal I should put him down,
had he never been held for a mur
der. as a likely sort of citizen, apt
to get along well in the world, sure
to accumulate a good many friends
as tie went and never likely to set
the woods afire, unless by accident.
Frank did have the opportunity to
commit the deed. He was in the fac
tory many hours after Mary Pha
gan received her $1.20 pay at noon.
Presumably Mary Phagan w’as in the
factory also, as she has not been
accounted for alive after she received
her money the hands of Frank.
Frank might have killed her,
thrown her body into the cellar,
framed the notes, broken the staple
from outside the cellar door, and re
mained about the place until the ne
gro watchman came on for the night.
Unfortunately for Frank, it is eas
ier to make out a case of w'hat he
might have done than it is to make
out a case against somebody else as
to what HE might have done.
But, while Frank MAY have done
all these things, where is the evi
dence that he DID do them? Such
as there is is purely and loosely cir
cumstantial, and woefully lacking in
detail at that.
Solicitor Is Puzzled.
Solicitor Dorsey plainly is puzzled
almost to his w'its end by the mys
teriousness of the Phagan case. I
doubt capitally, although he has not
said this to me, that he believes he
has sufficient evidence to Justify an
indictment either of Frank or Lea
I think he DOES believe that he la
on *the right road, but that he Is fir
from being In sight of the end th*r*-<
of.
Have the pjolice and other official®
“held back” evidence to be laid be
fore the Grand Jury? I do not think
so. But If they have, then, of course,
it is impossible'to form an Intelligent
opinion of the Phagan case at thl®, *
"stage of the proceedings.
I incline to suspect that everything
by way of evidence is well In hand
and, generally speaking, public prop
erty now. I believe the Solicitor i*
hoping that additional evidence MAY
be bi ought to light and a firmer
prima facie case made out before In*
dictment is sought.
But, even after indictment, It is a,
long, long road to conviction in cir
cumstantial cases, even of the strong
est kind.
As to the attempts to break down
Frank’s character—well, there has
been testimony submitted pro and
con on th-at phase of the case. To
my mind, the evidence submitted in
vindication of his character has out
weighed that against it—that is to
say. the preponderance is favorable
to Frank.
The fact that Frank has “winked”
at this person or that person, while
not to his credit, will not of itself,
convict him of the murder of Mary
Phagan. I have said before in this
article that Frank may have inclined
at times in his youth to be “fresh,’*
and it may be that he never has en
tirely recovered from it.
Who, then, DID murder Mary Pha
gan? The question is almost as far
from an answer to-day, I think, as
it was when Mary Phagan’s dead
body was dragged to light on that
early Sunday morning in April.
Maybe the authorities are on the
right road; maybe poor Mary Pha
gan’s slayer is a thousand miles away
from Atlanta; maybe he has brushed
elbows' with thousands of Atlantans
within the week.
Maybe he even has attended the
Coroner’s hearings, and maybe he is
cynically amused at the fiounderings
of the officers, seeking to locate him.
Maybe the murderer of this child
is in the Tower, and that eventually
responsibility will be fixed upon him.
Much Worthless Data.
At the Coroner's inquest, ninety-
five per cent, of the questions asked
were irrelevant, and ninety-nine per
cent, of the information obtained
woithless. Necessarily this was so,
because there was so very, very lit
tle to go on! The Coroner, the So
licitor, and the jury did the best they
could—angels could have done no bet
ter, perhaps—but there was so little
by way of fact to predicate question®
upon.
If the cases against Frank and Lee
break down, where shall investiga
tion begin anew? If there were
other clews to be obtained, over and
beyond the pitiful few that were ob-„
tained, could they be picked up now?
It is within the range of the possi
ble, but hardly within the range of
the probable.
So far, I am convinced of but one
lone fact—pathetic in its isolation—
and that is that poor, little Mary
Phagan is dead. „ ^
“Ancestors’
They were rich. He was an engaging youth
—she was pretty as a picture. Happiness, in
their vocabulary, was only another word for
pleasure. They thought they loved each
other. And so they were married.
Every married couple, and every couple about to be mar
ried, should read this intense story of real life, by
Gouverneur Morris
Illustrated by
James Montgomery Flagg
Harry and Margaret thought they had everything that makes for
happiness in life. London. Paris, Rome, Vienna knew
swift cars flung the miles away; the smoke of their yacht lav low
along the horizon. Then, as though some evil spirit had tlm
between them the thin edge of [a gigantic wedged and day
Their married life is being lived todav, and will be
lived countless times again, by many couples who
make the same mistake. Read how Harry and
Margaret worked out the problem for them
selves and just in time —found the key to
the happiness they had missed.
In the June number of
‘America’s
Greatest
Magazine”
Now on the
news-stands
15c a copy
F*.
JMi.i