Atlanta Georgian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, May 30, 1913, Image 2

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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS, i 1 AFFIDAVIT LUIS Swears Frank Told Him Girl Had Hit Her Head Against Something, The Georgian in its second Extra published exclusively the first REAL confession of James Conley, the ne gro sweeper at the National Pencil Factory, regarding the part he played 3n the Mary Phagan mystery. The Georgian has dealt in no hap hazard guesses as to the negro Con* lay’s testimony to the police and in giving prominence to his statements desires to say that it must not be taken as final until it is examined at the trial of Frank. Atlanta, Ga., April 29, 1913. On Saturday, April 26, 1913, when I come back to the pencil factory with Mr. Frank I waited for him downstairs like he told me, and when he whistled for me 1 went up stairs and he asked me If I wanted to make some money right quick, and I told him yes. sir, and ne told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall, and that her head hit against something— he didnt’ know what It was -and for me to move her and I hollered and told him the girl was dead. And he told ine to pick her up and bring her to the elevator, and I told him I didnt have nothing to pick her up with, and he told me to go and look by the cotton box there and get a piece of cloth and I got a big wide piece of cloth and come back there to the men's toilet, where she was, and tied her, and I taken her and brought her up there to a little dress ing room, carrying her on my right shoulder, and she got too heavy for me and she lipped off iny shoulder and fell on the floor right there at the dressing room and I hollered for Mr. Frank to come there and help me, that she was too heavy for ine, and Mr. Frank come down there and told me to “pick her up, dam fool," and he run down there to me and he was excited, and he picked her up by the feet. Her feet and head were sticking out of the cloth, and by him being so nervous he let her feet fall, and then we brought her onto the elevator, Mr. Frank carrying her by the feet and me by the shoulder, and we brought her to the eelvator, and then Mr. Frank says, “Wait, let me gei the key,” and he went Into the office and come back and unlocked the elevator door and started the elevator down. Says Frank Stood Guard. Mr. Frank turned It on himself, and we went on down to the basement and Mr. Frank helped me take it off the, elevator and he told me to take It back there to the sawdust pile and I picked it up and put it on my shoulder again, and Mr. Frank he went up the ladder and watched the trapdoor to see if anybody was com ing, and I taken her back there and taaeii the cloth from around her and taken her hat and shoe which I picked up upstairs right where her body was lying and brought them down and untied the cloth and brought them back and throwed them on the trashl pile in front of the furnace and Mr. Frank was standing at the trapdoor at the head of the ladder. He didnt tell me where to put the things. I laid her bpdy down with her head toward the elevator, lying on her stomach and the left side of her face was on the ground the right side of her face was up and both arms were laying down with her body by the side of her body. Mr. Frank Joined me back on the first floor. I stepped on the elevator and he stepped on the elevator when It got to where he was. and he said. “Gee, that was a tiresome Job," and I told him his Job was not as tiresome as mine was, because 1 had to tote It all the way from where she was lying to the dressing room and In the basement from the elevator to where I left her. Frank Washed Hands, He Asserts. Then Mr. Frank hops off the ele vator before it gets even with the second floor and he makes a stumble and he hits the floor and catches with both hands and he went around to the sink to wash his hands and 1 went and cut off the motor and 1 stood and waited for Mr. Frank to come from around there washing his hands and then we went on into the office and Mr. Frank, he couldnt hard ly keep still. He was all the time moving about from, one office to the other. Then he come back In to the stenographer's office and come back and told me, “Here comes Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall,” 1 understood him to say, and he come back and told me to come here and he opened the wardrobe and told me to get in there, and I was so slow about going he told me to hurry up, damn it, and Mr. Frank, whoever that was come into the office, they didn’t stay so very long till Mr. Frank was gone about seven or eight minutes, and I was still in The Georgian-American Pony Contest VOTE COUPON Hearst's Sunday American and Atlanta Georgian PONY CONTEST VOTE COUPON. FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1913 5 VOTES NOT GOOD AFTER JUNE 14, 1913. Vote for Address CARRIERS’ AND AGENTS' BALLOT. Hearst’s Sunday American and Atlanta Georgian Pony Contest Vote Coupon, Friday, May 30, 1913. 5 t/ATre NOT GOOD AFTER W I l-a JUNE 14. 1913. Vote for Address . SCHOOL BOYS’ AND GIRL8’ BALLOT. the wardrobe and he never had come to let me out, and Mr. Frank come back and I said: "Goodness alive, you kept me In there 1 mighty long time.’ 1 and he said: “yes. I see I did; you are sweating." And then me and Mr. Frank sat down in a chair. Mr. Frank then took out a cigarette and he give me the box and asked me did 1 want to smoke, and I told him, “Yea, sir,” and I taken the box and taken out a cigarette and he handed me a box of matches and 1 handed him the matches back, and I handed him the cigarette box and he told me that was all right I could keep that, and that I told him he had some money in It and he told me that was all right I could keep that. Mr. Frank then asked me to write a few lines on that paper, a white scratchpad he had there and he told me what to put on there and I asked him what he was going to do with It and he told me to Just go ahead and write, and then after 1 got through writing Mr. Frank looked at It and said it was all right, and Mr. Frank looked up at the top of the house and said, “Why should I hang? I have wealthy people in Brooklyn," and I asked him what about me and he told me that was all right about me, for me to keep my mouth shut and he would make everything all right. And tften I asked him where was the money he said he was go ing to give me, and Mr. Frank said, “Here Is $200," and he handed me a big roll of green back money and I didn’t count it. I stood there a little while looking at it In my hand and I told Mr. Frank not to take out another dollar for that watch man I owed, and he said he wouldn’t—and the rest Is Just like I told it before. The reason I have not told tills before Is I thought Mr. Frank would get out and help me out, but it seems that he Is not going to get out, and I have decided to tell the whole truth about the matter. » While I was looking at the money In my hand, Mr. Frank said: “Let me have that and 1 will make it all right with you Monday if I live and nothing hap pens." And he took the money back, and I asked him if that was the way he done, and he said he would give it back Monday. JAMES CONLEY. Sworn to and subscribed before me the 29th day of May, 1913 G. C. FEBUARY, Notary Public, Fulton County, Ga. If the latest confession of James Conley is true, then Leo M. Frank killed Mary Phagan, and the killing was apparently accidental. Conley swears Frank told him he had picked up a girl and let her fall, and that her head hit something. When the body of Mary Phagan was found there were deep wounds and abrasions on the skull Conley does not say specifically whether it was all an accident. Conley says when he reached the girl she was dead. In*his confession Conley admits he himself tied a cloth about the dead girl’s head, so he could carry her to the basement at Frank's direction. The police theory has been that the murderer of Mary Phagan accidental ly knocked her against a piece of ma chinery, then became frightened and finished the Job by strangling her with a rope. Conley makes no men tion of a rope. From his story, there fore. it would appear that the deep furrows in the dead girls flesh giv ing credence to the theory of strangu lation were produced by the cloth which the negro himself tied about the girl’s body. Conley insists the girl was dead when he first saw her. Turning the Suspicion. Frank superintended the carrying of the girl’s body to the cellar. Con ley swore, displaying great nervous ness. Then, when the body had been 1ACK LOWS J&*2 Greilerf F'/u/ZAfvc/ TMCARltmAGUE Detitn? nr FRIX MAGAZINE GIVEN WITH NEXT SlIMi'AMKS deposited on a trash pile, Frank took the negro back upstairs and laid plans for throwing suspicion on the negro. At Frank’s direction, Conley says, he wrote the notes presumed to have been found with the body of Mary Phagan. Frank took the notes, gave the negro a cigarette, remarked, "Why should I hang?” and told him he (Frank) would see that everything would come out all right for him (Conley.) Frank then gave the negro a roll of bills, which he said was $200. In a few minutes he took them back, promising to make it all right the fol lowing Monday morning. Whether the killing was premedita ted murder, or murder after Frank had unintentionally Injured Mary Phagan, or accident pun* and simple, remains to be determined. "Betrayed Himself.” If Conley’s confession Is true, Leo M. Frank killed Mary Phagan by ac cident, and in nervous, half-crazed efforts to dispose of the body laid himself liable to the very charge of murder he sought to avoid. He knew’ he was alone In the fac tory with the girl, that sensational reports would follow discovery of the body and feared bis story of an acci dental killing would be discounted. Therefore, he bribed the negro to help him dispose of the body—fear ful lest the groundless charge of murder be made against him. Frank told Conley—so the negro says—that he picked the girl up and let hfer fall, her head hitting some thing hard. The girl was dead, Con ley says, when he first saw' Tier, and in an effort to facilitate removal of the body he, Conley, tied a stout cloth around the head. It was this cloth, tightly drawn over the dead girl’s features, which gave rise to the theory of strangulation. Examination disclosed a fractured skull, caused by contact with a heavy substance. This wound un doubtedly follow'ed the dropping of the girl’s body against “something hard.” Frank’s statements to Conley while the girl’s lifeless body was not yet cold throw no light on the dramatic scene ending in Mary Fhagan’s death. Whether they were on intl- mate terms and he was fondling her, or whether they were struggling when he "picked her up,” is still a mystery —a mystery made all the more deeper by the absence of any details i#*r- tnining thereto in the negro’s nar rative. Wesleyan Warns of Social Dissipation MIDDLETOWN, CONN., May 30.— “Undue attention, not to athletics, but to society, is responsible for the most serious dissipation of student energies to-day and for the majority of the failures In college work,” says the Wesleyan University Bulletin. "The multiplication of social func tions and their increasing expense during recent years is becoming a serious problem in student life,” it adds. Here’s the Smart Thing for Summer It’s The New “BENJAMIN” Pin Check, Close Fitting English Model. If you were to go through our entire stock and pick out the dozens of smart styles and smart patterns we are showing, you wouldn’t find one that could beat this for genuine smartness and TONE. It’s a brand new style with several distinctive features. The coat is t he new form-fitting English cut with soft roll front,patch pockets, and cuffs on the sleeves. The pants have a new adjus table belt to match the suit. This is a very striking novelty that is certain to prove pouplar. Trousers are, of course, straight cut,and may be had with or without cuffs. And the price is only Twenty-Five Dollars Carlton Shoe & Clothing Co. Thirty-Six Whitehall FACSIMILE OF CONCLUDING PORTION OF NEGRO CONLEY’S SENSATIONAL AFFIDAVIT, SHOWING HIS SIGNATURE The reason I have not told this before’is I thought Mr. Prank would get out and hel p me out, but it seems that he ts not going to ge-b out and I have decided to tell the whole truth about this matter. j j /?• . - £ J vcm^t aJT Gy /ia^n cl Yfrjr % *ja***/K S -c StTK, <* / vLt fa fa sfraAd fa Unru^d OUtrrufay Sworn to and subscribed before me ^^dayof^^JL9X3- j* Rotary Public, JFxxVton Georgia. READY TP INDICT DRAMATIC SCENE AT FACTORY AS CONLEY RE-ENACTS CRIME Dorsey Ready to Act if Negro Sticks to Latest Story Ac cusing Frank. Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey announced that if Conley persisted In his story he w’ould take steps to have him indicted as an accessory after the fact and bring him to trial on this charge. Conley was Friday afternoon re moved to the Tower, on an order signed by Judge Roan. Conley’s startling tale came late Thursday afternoon after he had been under a merciless sweating for near ly three hours. Noting the signs of weakening, Detective Harry Scott and Chief Lanford shot question after question at him In rapid succession. Conley hesitated and then told the men who surrounded him that he had seen Mary Phagan on the day of the crime, but that she was dead when he saw her. When it became evident tha. the most im portant disclosures of the long in vestigation were to be made, G. C. February* secretary to Chief Lanford, was called in and took the negro’s statement. Sticks to Note Story. Conley stuck to his story that Frank had him write the notes that were found by the girl’s body and the detectives believe that there can be no doubt of this now. He said that after the notes were written Frank took his arm and led him to the body. Frank’s hand was shaking, the negro declared. To gether, they raised the limp form from the floor. Conley told the de tectives, and took it into the base ment. • < iffering no explanation of the tragedy which had occurred, Frank ordered. Conley to leave the build ing, according to tne statement. Conley explained his long silence by saying that he thought Frank had plenty of money and that he would be able to get both of them free within a short time. Chief Lahford and Detective Scott both declared after the third degree that they were confident that the ne gro at last wa* telling the.truth. If he has any further knowledge of the crime, they said they would get it out of him Friday when they put him through another grilling. Admission of Conley’s statements into a court of justice Is certain to be fought most bitterly. The fact that Conley has been discovered In a tan gle of lies which he has been telling ever since his arrest three weeks ago is expected by the defense to go a long ways in shutting the doors against his affidavits. In addition to the maze of con flicting stories in which he has been involved, Conley has signed three sep arate statements, no two of which agree in some essential points. His first affidavit swore mat he was not at the factory' on the day Mary Phagan was murdered. His second affidavit swore that he was at the factory on the Saturday the girl was brutally slain, but that he left immediately after he had writ ten the notes at the direction of Frank. He saw Mary Phagan neither alive nor dead, according to this doc ument. His third affidavit, or statement, re. pudiated both of the other statements in many of their details, and declared that he did not leave the factory' at the time stated in the other affidavit*, but. instead, assisted Frank to carry the little girl’s body to the basement, where it was found by Newt Lee Sun day morning. The fact that the negro has altered his statement in some important par ticular every succeeding time that he has been questioned has not served to throw suspicion on the negro in the eyes of the detective. We have Beautiful Bedding Plants 3c each. Atlanta Floral Co., 555 L. Fair Street. Negro, Step by Step, Shows Detectives Part He Says He Had in Slaying. Continued From Page 1. It might have been used to strangle her.” Conley then pointed out the spot where he said that the girl’s weight oecame too heavy for him and he called on Frank to help him. Frank, he said, came cursing from the door way. “He picked up hqf feet,” said Con ley, “and I carried her shoulders. Just" when we got by this window Frank was so nervous that he dropped the girl and her feet dragged on the floor.” It was at this place that a splotch of blood was found by the detectives. Conley then walked toward the ele vator, talking all the time of what was occurring on that other time he had made the same trip through the building. The negro appeared to be telling a straightforward story and was ready with an answer whenever any of the officers asked him a ques tion. As Conley and the detectives reach ed the elevator, the negro said that he waited there while Frank went Into the office to get the key to the eleva tor door. He described the manner in w'hich # the body was carried into the elevator and dropped on the elevator floor. Frank ran the elevator down to the basement, according to Conley, while he (Conley) ran it on the return upstairs. Conley went down on the elevator just as he had done before, the officers w’ith him. “I took her body out of the olava- to*f’ said Conley, “and Mr. Frank Helped me. He told me to take the body up to the trash pile in front of the furnace. I put the girl on my shoulders again and walked up there with her and dropped her right there,” pointing to a point only a few feet to the left of the furnace. “I pulled the bagging out from un der her and threw' it there on the pile of trash in front of the furnace. Mr. Frank he waited there at the trap door to we If anyone was coming. Before that I w'ent back upstairs and got her hat and shoes and brought them down in the basement.” “Show' us the way you left the girl’s body,” commanded Chief Beav ers. Conley promptly lay down in the identical spot where Newt Lee found the body of the girl. He lay with the left side of his face on the ground, hls right arm slightly under him and the left arm stretched by his side. His feet pointed toward the rear door of the basement where the staple was pulled. Negro Never Hesitates. “You can’t help but believe him.” muttered Detective Harry Scott, as the negro went through the terrible tragedy movement by movement without faltering for an instrfnt or hesitating as though he were not sure of his ground. Conley appeared perfectly composed as though he were reciting an every day occurrence, but his earnest and apparently truthful bearing gave his dramatic story, told in a matter of fact way. a convincing power that evidently had its effect on every one who was listening to his recital. Negro Ran Elevator Up. “Did you ever find that piece of cctton bagging?” Chief Beavers in quired of E. F. Hollow'ay, 1 the day watchman. “No, I never did.” Holloway re plied. his answer leading to the pre sumption that the bagging subse quently had been burned. After showing the detectives where he had disposed of the body, Conley retraced his steps toward the eleva tor. “Frank climbed up this ladder,” he said, “and I ran the elevator back up. He met me on the first floor and got in the elevator with me and rode with me up to the second floor.” Conley ran the elevator back up as he had done the day of the trage dy. Chief Beavers and several of the detectives rode up with him. Chief Lanford climbed up the ladder as Frank was represented as doing. Con ley said that Frank was nervous and rushed off the elevator before it had come to a stop, stumbling in his haste. Illustrates Fall. Having the elevator stopped about a foot and a half below the landing, Conley illustrated the fall of Frank, who in his hurry to get out of the elevator stumbled and fell on his hands, the negro says. Getting up from tfie floor, Conley led the officers to the sink where the negro claims Frank washed his hands. Conley says he waited for Frank by a post near the elevator landing. When Frank came from washing his hands. Conley said, he led him (Conley) into the office and had him sit down. Conlev said Frank kept twisting about in fcfls chair, wringing his hands, and "act ing lak white folks does w'hen they is scared, turned red in the face, and kept looking around.” Conley said Frank next walked out of the room and got a box of matches, stopped in the door and fooled with a cigarette box. He says Frank then looked out the glass door and said: "Oh, God, here comes Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall,” and quickly pushed him in the closet at the side of the door, closing the closet door. Put Him in Closet. The officers put Conley in the clos et. It easily held him. Conley said he could not tell whether or not the girls entered the room. He heard one of them ask, "Are you all alone, Mr. Frank?" and Frank answered, "Yes. I am alone.” Pretty soon Frank came and let Conley out, Conley says, and had him sit down at Frank’s desk. Conley says Frank got some paper from a drawer and told him to write a note. The officers had Conley sit down and write w'hat he claims Frank dictated to him. Conley readily wrote, “Dear mother a long tall black negro did this by hissleb he told me if I would lay down he would love me play like the night wich did this by hisselb." How About Mo? Conley says he asked Frank w'hat he was going to do w'lth the note Frank, replied that he was going to put it in a letter and send it to hit- mother in Brooklyn, that he had wealthy people there. Conley say? Frank then clasped hls hands, looked at the ceiling and exclamed, "Why should I hang?" “I asked him," Conley told the of ficers, “what about me?" Frank says, "Don’t you w'orry, you are a good boy and you will be all right." The negro stated that Frank then handed him a roll of greenback money and said it w r as $200. Conley says he did not count it. and that Frank suddenly grabbed it away from him. telling him that his people in .Brooklyn would send him plenty of money and he would give Conley plenty of money later. Frank next took a cigarette, Con ley declared, and then asked him to have one, handling him the box. Con ley says he saw' a little money in the box and was afraid to let Frank see it, for fear he would take it away from him. Conley next illustrated the man ner In which he says Frank walked to the stairs with him. The negro says Frank placed his arms around his shoulders and w'alked to the stairs with him. and watched him de scend. Then Frank ran about five steps down and looked to see if Con ley went on out. pf His Free Will. While in the superintendent’s of fice Conley stated that he was making this confession of his own free will and accord; that the officers had nev er in any way mistreated him or cursed him or struck him, and that they had not offered him any reward Reproduces Conversa tion H e Declares Took Place as Prank Directed Removal. in order to induce him to tell what he knew. He explained his delay in making his confession by saying that he had been hoping to receive a large sum of money from Frank’s people. He said that “he had thought Frank would get out and then help him out, but he now saw that there was* no hope for either of them, and he had decided to tell the truth. Conley stat ed that the people at the factory- seemed to be down on him, but that he wanted to tell all he knew and had done so. After Conley had finished illustrat ing his part in the crime he was led back to the second floor and then was taken back down to the basement in the elevator. On the way down Chief Beavers remarked to' him: “This must be familiar scenery to you, Jim." The negro smiled and re plied: “It sure is, boss." Conley did not hesitate for a mo ment during the entire time he was showing his part in the crime, and his frankness of speech and clocklike w-ord impressed the officers that he was at last telling the exact truth. “There is not a doubt that the negro is telling the truth and it would be foolish to doubt it. The negro couldn't go through the actions like he did unless he had done this just like he said," said Harry Scott. “We believe that we have at last gotten to the bottom of the Phagan mystery. Conley’s confession fits ex actly in w’ith our theory." Going out the rear door of the base ment, the officers hurried Conley into Chief Beavers’ automobile and took him back to the police station. A large crowd had gathered in front of the pencil factors' and at the rear, but there was no marked demonstrancn against him. Most of these were factory employees who have been of the belief that Frank is innocent and that the negro has been shifting the responsibility from his own shoulders to those of an inno cent man. There was some muttering of. “There’s the negro now’; get him,” but there was no concerted demon stration. The automobile was driven rapidly away. *_ Detective Harry Scott stated to a Georgian reporter that there would be very little more questioning of the negro. He said that there could be very little more to tell, and* that it was his opinion tha^ Conley had told practically everything he knew-. Chief Beavers and Chief Scott, aft er the dramatic story of the negro, were of the same opinion. They said that Conley had proved to their sat isfaction the guilt of Frank and that they could no longer hold any doubt of it. -THE VICTOR” Now Well After Using Eckman’s Alterative The makers of Kckman’s Alterative, which is doing so much good for Lung Trouble, are continually in receipt of wonderful report* of recoveries brought about solely Uirough the use of this medicine. Investigate the case of this i writer, who used Eckman’s Alterative and who Is to-day enjoying good health: 421 Second Ave.. Aurora, Ill. “Gentlemen: Pardon me for not writing soon er, but I wanted to see If I would stay cured. I can now truthfully say I am perfectly well. I have no pain, no cough, no night sweats, no hay fever. Since a child of two years I have been ailing with lung trouble, which grew worse as I grew older. At the age of fourteen the doctors said If I could not be sent South I would surely dla of Consumption. Every winter I would be sure to have either Bronchitis. Pleurisy or Pneumonia. I had Typhoid-Pneu monia one time. I had catarrh of the stomach and bowels and had Hay Fever for the last few years; but have not anything of the kind this year. I will answer all letters sent to me. asking a history of my case, from any one suf fering with lung trouble.” (Affidavit) ETTA PLATH. (Six years later reports still well.) (Above abbreviated; more on request.) Eckman’s Alterative has been proven fc7 many years' test to be most efficacious In cases of severe Throat and Lung Affections. Bron chitis. Bronchial Asthma. Stubborn Colds and in upbuilding the system. Does not contain narcotics, poisons or habit-forming drugs. For sale by all Jacobs' Drug Stores and other lead lng druggists Write the Kckman Laboratory. Philadelphia. Fa.. for booklet telling of re coveries and additional evidence. DR. WOOLLEY’S SANITARIUM Opium and Whisky and drui all lnebriet j drug addictions aolenti- flcally treated. Our St years' experience show* these diseases are curable. 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