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.v THE ATLAJNTA (iEUKUIAN AND NEWS. CHAPTER 5 IN PHAGAN CASE Geologist Has Just Completed Survey—Declares Vast Latent Wealth Is. There. The Nepro Conley’s Confession That He Was Frank’s Accomplice and Events Leading Up to Trial. Warren K. Hall, district engineer of th« United States Geological Survey, returned to Atlanta Friday from the Florida Kverglades, where, In com pany with E. T. Perkins, M. O. Leigh ton and Lsham Randolph, he made a survey to determine the feasibility of draining the great swamps. Mr. Hall Is pleased with the result of the Investigation and declares it will be possible to reclaim most of the water-covered area. “There are,” said Mr. Hall, “hun dreds of square miles in the Ever glades where no white man has ever aet foot. I predict that Just as soon as enough money can be appropriated and Judiciously used this now useless territory can be turned Into the most fertile farm land. Canal To Be Built. “Ttio first great task to be under taken will be the construction of a canal which will connect Miami and Fort Meyers, thus uniting the east and west coasts of Florida. This canal will be made navigable for the largest ships and will reduce the distance between these two points 105 miles. "Florida some time ago made an appropriation for drainage work. Sev eral million dollars were spent. The work wae done without due consid eration. The men engaged Jumped at conclusions, and as a consequence the work done Is lost time and money uselessly spent, for the water does not run the right way. "An appropriation of $40,000 has been made recently for investigation alone to determine exactly what can be done. Our report has gone In and $0,000,000 will he appropriated at once. Beauties of OkecHobee. “One place where the drainage work previously done proved a suc cess—Zona, Fla., about eight miles west of Fort I^auderdale—a real es tate company purchased 10,000 acres of land for 11 an acre. This com pany l8 9 selllng this land at $80 an acre. "The Everglades are shout 20 feet above sea level and the water can be made to run easily Into the ocean. Our scheme Is to perfect a drainage system In the wet season and an ir rigating system n the dry months. The soil Is rich and black and the cli mate is Ideal. No malaria is found in the center of the Everglades at Lake Okechobee—a beautiful lake about 30 miles square—a little Inland sea. one might term It. There Is not a minute in the day that huge black bass do not Jump In the water. There are hundreds of them, and as you travel in a boat a continual splashing Is heard Killed Some Alligators. "There are very few mosquitoes. So far this summer the temperature in the Everglades has been cool. I think 92 degrees Is the warmest diy we had. "We traveled many of the rivers, and, I tell you, I saw' many strange and weird sights. We traveled in a combination sail and power yacht. 1n the evening, when the moon shone bright, we sat In our boat and fished. I caught many bass as large as seven pounds and shot a number of alllgatora— one over twelve feet In length escaped. His Jaws were large enough to take a calf In h1s mouth. "I enjoyed the trip every minute and can positively say that golden opportunity and fabulous wealth await Investment In the Everglades of Florida." CHAPTER VI. "He (Leo Frank) told me that he had picked up a girl back there and had let her fall, and that her head had hit against something—he didn’t know what it was—and for me io move her. and I hollered and told him the girl was dead!” With this startling accusation Jim Conley introduced his third confes sion. Under the rack of a merciless third degree, continued through the long afternoon of May 29, ho weak ened or became desperate toward the lflfrt and came out with h!s remark able affidavit, which laid the respon sibility for the killing of Mary Pha- gan directly upon the shoulders of the young factory superintendent Either It was nil true or all false. If It were true, the negro simply had wilted under the ceaseless fire of the detectives’ questions and had decided to own up to his share In the crime and to seek to protect Frank no long er. If It were false, Conley, driven to bay, had, as a forlorn hope of saving his own neck, concocted the mr eloue tale to thrust the suspl- c' .f guilt upon the Innocent Frank Defense Attacks Confession. The latter is the theory of Frank’s lawyers, and they will advance It and bring evidence to support It and argu© in Its favor with all the ability at their command w r hen the trial, set for next Monday, Is under way. "Why, when the negro admittedly has told a long series of falsehoods and has perjured himself repeatedly since his arrest should this last weird tale of his be taken as the gospel truth?*’ Is the question they ask, and apparently with some degree of rea son. True or false, the negro’s story was wonderfully impressive to the thou sands who read his damning accusa tions against the factory superintend ent next day. If the affidavit were a fabrication of the negro’s guilty mind, it Was most cleverly and shrewdly conceived. There was Just enough detail to his narration of how he had assisted Frank to dispose of the body to give the statement the color of nat uralness and verity, and not such m overabundance as to lead to the sus picion that the incidents were being manufactured in the brain of the narrator. J Negro Sticks to Story. tory girl was dramatic, his re-en actment next day In the old factory building of every detail of his as tounding story was infinitely more o. While a group of police officials, de tectives. factory attaches and news paper men followed him closely about the second floor, down the elevator, Into the basement and back again, listening, spellbound, to his every W'ord, the negro reproduced, move ment by movement, every detail of the grewsome work In which he said he had had only a part. Unhesitatingly—almost unconcern edly—he started from the point where he said he came imon the body, In the rear of the second floor near,the metal department. Except for an oc casional question from Chief Denvers Chief Lanford or Harry Scott, he told his story without prompting. Re-enacts Ghastly March. "There’s where she laid," he said, pointing to a narrow passageway, and he dropped down on the floor to show exactly the position of Mary Pha- gan’s body as he had said he found her. He lay partly on his face, with his right leg slightly drawn up. "Why, this girl’s stone dead!” he declared he yelled to Frank in the first fright of his discovery. “Mr. Frank was standing in the doorway right there. He told me to get a sack and put her body In that.” Then the negro showed where he found the crocus bagging In which his affidavit said he carried the body. He made as though he w’ere carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders, and pointed out where the burden of the dead girl’s body became too heavy for him. He said he called on Frank to help him. The superintendent, he said, came, cursing him for his clumsiness. But Frank was nervous, Conley as serted, and himself dropi>e<i the feet The Shuptrlne drug bill has be*n j little girl when they had pro- made special order in the House for ! needed but a few steps farther. The Tuesday. Indications are It will be negro proceeded to the elevator, where passed. The bill provides for rigid he said he waited for Frank to get enforcement of the laws against the j the key, described the trip to the sale of narcotics. It allows a limited j basement and his carrying of the body the strange spell of bis acting had passed away aroused the suspicion that there w'fts a possibility of this third affidavit, too, being a perjury and this wonderful acting being a firoduct of the black man’s vivid imagination, spurred on by the shad ow of the gallows across his path. Hlnce this dramatic event at the factory, the n**gro has not changed his story in any essential point, the detectives say. It Is possible that the authorities are so sure of the truth of his tale that they are making no se rious efforts to gain further admis sions from him. They deny that this Is a fact. They declare that when with the negro they have worked on the theory that he may be the actual criminal, and many times have put him through the third degree in an effort to get another confession out of him. Many inconsistencies have been found In Conley’s storyA Many ap parent deviations from truth have been pointed out. A number of state ments conflicting with the testimony of other witnesses were made. But It remained for William H. Mincey, school teacher and insurance agent, to give the negro the lie direct and to charge him with the crime. Mincey Affidavit a Bomb. Next to the story of Jim Conley himself, the affidavit of Mincey, ac cusing the negro of the boast of killing a girl, was the most* sensa tional of the entire Phagan mystery. In the point of direct accusation, It even surpassed the tale of Conley. Events of importance have oc curred in the case through June and July uj) to the present, but the state ment of Mincey overshadowed them all. Mlnola McKnight, negro cook, grill ed in what Mrs. Frank, wife of the accused factory superintendent, was pleased to term "the detectives’ tor ture chamber," signed her name to an affidavit which told of incrim inating incidents at the home of Frank the night of the murder and th e next morning. Within a few hours after she had been liberated from the police station she denied to a Georgian reporter that she ever had made the statements accredited to her in the so-called affidavit. Foil Plan to Move Conley. An effort was made to get Conley away from the detectives by having him removed to the Tow'er. This at- WfcW , tempt was frustrated In a proceed- If Conley’s storv of the alleged part ! characterized by Attorney Ros- he had in the ldlHner of the little fan- | ser farcical in the extreme. Frank’s House Seems Sure To Pass Drugs Bill supply of opium and cocaine to be kept in stores. Inspectors are pro vided for. A special tax of $10 on druggists will maintain the system. Representative Shuptrlne, who is head of a large drug firm In Savan nah and who has been president of the Georgia Pharmaceutical Assoeia- | tion. has worked hard for the passage j of the bill. He has the personal in- | dorsement of more than half the druggists in Georgia- Do your eyes ache or blur when reading? Accurately fitted glasses will correct your troubles. Ocullct service at opticians’ prices. L. N. Huff Optical Co., two stores, 52 W. Mitchell, 70 Whitehall. adv. SEASHORE EXCURSION AUGUST 7. , Jacksonville, Brunswick, St. Simon, Cumberland, At lantic Beach, $6.00—Limit ed 6 days. Tampa, Fla., $8 —Limited 8 days. TWO SPECIAL TRAP7S. 10 p. m. solid Pullman train. 10:15 p. m. Coach train. Make Reservations Now. SOUTHERN RAILWAY. to the trash heap at the rear W'hile Frank, he said, watched at the little trapdoor to see that no one Inter rupted them. Tells of Writing Notes. Conley said that he ran the eleva tor returning, and that Frank* go on at the first floor. “Gee, that was a tiresome Job," Frank said, according to the negro. "Then Mr. Frank hops off the ele vator before it gets to the second floor.” he continued, "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 I went and cut off the motor and I stood and waited for Mr. Frank to come from around there washing his hands, and then we went Into his of fice, and Mr. Frank he couldn’t hard ly keep still.” Conley then described the writing of the notes, which he had maintained from the time of his first affidavit had been dictated to him by Frank. Conley went through the grim dra ma with a realism that was convinc ing. His readiness, his unfaltering course from the second floor to the basement and back again, his prompt explanation of every puzzling point that arose, his quotations of alleged conversations that occurred between Frank and himself all quite erased from the memory the confessed fact that he had Just been guilty in his two previous affidavits of the grosest falsehood. For the moment everyone was willing to believe the negro lm plicitly. Suspicion Again Aroused. But a sober second thought after NCINNATI TWO FAST TRAINS Lv. 7; 12 AM., 5:10 PM. counsel charged that the detectives were afraid to let Conley talk. Strength was added to the defense in June by the addition of Reuben Arnold, one of the city’s noted crim inal lawyers, to Frank’s counsel. Ar nold said in making the announce ment that h« was to aid in the de fense declared that he had reviewed the evidence carefully and had be come convinced that Frank could not be guilty of the crime. Habeas corpus proceedings to ob tain the freedom of Newt Lee, held in the Tow r er since his commitment soon after the murder, were brought by the attorneys for the negro, but failed, except in changing Lee’s status and procuring for him more priv ileges. Charges Death Boast. On July 10 The Georgian published the startling charges of Mincey which were contained In an affidavit in pos session of the defense. P'our days later The Georgian got from Mincey, who was teaching school at Rising Faun, Ala., his own story of his conversation w r ith Conley in which he declared the negro on the afternoon that Mary Phagan was slain had bragged of killing a girl. Mincey for a short time was an agent for the American Insurance Company, of No. 115 1-2 North Pryor street. He w r as assigned a district west of the Terminal Station. He declared in his affidavit that he work- ed in the office until noon on April 26, and In the afternoon went on Peachtree street and saw the pa rade. Later he said he went over be yond Davis street on "back calls" and to make an effort to close some pros pects. Mincey saw Conley, he asserted, sitting by the house situated on the bluff at the junction of Electric ave nue and Carter street. According to Mincey, the negro appeared to be asleep, but as the agent passed by Conley raised his head and shouted: "Who is that?" “It’s a ’policy man,’ ” said a negro woman who was going by at the time. Says Conley Was Excited. "I stopped and got into a conver sation with the negro about insur ance,” said Mincey in his formal statement to The Georgian. "He told me his name w r as Jim Conley. He told me that he lived at No. 172 Rhodes street. I saw there was something wrong w’ith him. He w’os nervous and excited and tried to put me off by telling me to come to No. 172 Rhodes street next week and he would take insurance. "He told me he was in trouble. I asked him if they had had him in the jail or stockade. He said no, but that he was expecting to be in jail and that right away. I asked him what for. “He said: ’Murder; I killed a girl to-day!’ "I started down toward him. "Hfe said: *1 tell you not to come dow r n here.’ "When he saw that I was coming anyway, he jumped up, and as he went around the corner of the house he said: *1 have killed one to-day and 1 don’t want to kill another.'" Believed It Idle Brag. Mincey went on to relate that he had not attached much importance to the incident at the time, thinking that the negro was boasting of some negro scrape in which he had been involved. When he read the papers the ne*t Monday, however, he was struck with the conviction that Conley was the man who committed the murder. He said that he went to the factory the next day, but that everything was so confused and chaotic that no one would listen to his story, and he was almost chased out of the building along w ith a score of others who were offering the detectives and factory of ficials suggestions and clews. Before he left he gained the ear of E. F. Holloway, day watchman, but Holloway told him that there were no negroes about the building before 4 o’clock, eo far as he knew, and Min cey departed. When Conley came out with his admission that he not only was in the factory the day of the crime, but that he was skulking in the shadow’s of the first floor when Mary Phagan and others entered the building, the tale of Mincey took on new Importance. He was taken to the office of Attor ney Rosser and there his statement was transcribed. Story Causes Turmoil. The puollcation of his accusations created great excitement in detec tive circles. Harry ricott, Pinkerton detective, rushed to the police station, where he made the declaration that Mincey never told them a story of that sort when he came there to iden tify Conley. He added that Mincey had appeared far from confident that day that Conley was the man he had talked to Saturday afternoon, April 26. Chief Lanford scouted the story nnd said he believed it to be a baselesa fabrication. He hardly thought the defense would call Mincey to the wit ness stand when the trial actually be gan. Solicitor Dorsey set out at on~o to make an Investigation of the story. He looked un Mincey’s history In every place he had lived In Georgia. He also was the recipient of many letters concerning the insurance agent-teacher. At the end of a week he announced that he believed le would be able to discredit the affi davit. Subsequent developments are re cent history. June 30, the date orig inally' set for the dal, approached, there were w’ell-authentlcated rumors that a postponement would be grant ed. Judge L. S. Roan, who will pre side nt the trial, was present at a conference of the attorneys June 24. and by agreement between counsel set the date for next Monday, July 28. Conley Indictment Urged. With the publication of the sensa tional charges of Mincey came a de mand for an investigation of Conley’s part In the crime by the Grand Jury. The demand waa made on the ground that, if the negro were guilty, he should not go into the trial with the credibility of a free man, when It would be a natural supposition that the most natural thing for him to ’’o' w'ould be to testify agali.st Frank in order to shift the blame from his o*n shoulders, where it belonged. It wis argued that Conley should have ex actly the same status as Frank. Solicitor Dorsey bitterly opposed a movement of thi* sort. He said that he would fight It to the last. He de clared he had sufficient evidence to convict the factory superintendent and that he was confident of his guilt. OveT the Solicitor’s head, Foreman W. D. Beatle called a meeting of the Grand Jury, on the request of many of its members. The Solicitor was asked to be present when the Jurors met July 21. No other wit nesses were called. The Solicitor for an hour and a half detailed his rea sons for not desiring the Indictment of Conley. At the conclusion of the session it was announced that no ac tion would be taken on the negro’s case at that time. Dorsey Balks Postponement. The next skirmish came on the pro posal again to postpone the trial. The Solicitor again set himself In opposi tion to this plan, declaring that the State had been prepared to go ahead since June 30 and that there was no valid reason apparent why It could not go on when called July 28. Frank will go on trial for his life next Monday if no motion for a con tinuance Is successful. The present indications are that no effort will be made for a postponement. Witnesses are being summoned by both sides; the judge Has expressed his opiniop that the trial will proceed, and the venire haff been drawn. The young factory superintendent wlf! go before the tribunal expressing confidence In his acquittal. Through the three months that he has been imprisoned In a cell at the Tower his optimism never has left him for a moment. He Is one of fhe most re markable prisoners ever in the county Jail. He has been assured and confi dent. He has talked little of the crime, even among his friends. He has read the papers and magazines closely. When he ha** been visited by his wife and other relatives, the conversation invariably has been on cheerful sub jects. He has refused to be drawn into a discussion of the mystery with the reporters. "The guilty man should hang,” the remark he made when told of Con ley’s third confession, is practically his sole comment on Atlanta’s great est murder mystery. HEARST’S Daily Sunday GEORGIAN AMERICAN Now Leads Them All Statement Filed by Atlanta Georgian With the Postoffice Department STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MAN AGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC., of THE AT LANTA GEORGIAN, published daily at Atlanta, Geor gia, required by the Act of August 24, 1912. Editor, Keats Speed, Atlanta, Ga. Managing Editor, H. M. Schraudenbach, Atlanta, Ga. Business Manager, H. E. Murray, Atlanta, Ga. Publisher, Ther Georgian Com pany, Atlanta, Ga. Owner The Georgian Company, W. Ii. Hearst, 137 Riverside Drive, New York, N. Y. Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders, lidding one per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: W. R. Hearst, 137 Riverside Drive, New York, N. Y. The Trust Com pany of Georgia, Atlanta, Ga., Trustee. Average num ber of copies of each issue of this publication sold or dis tributed through the mails or otherwise, to paid sub scribers during the six months preceding April 1, 1913, 43,236; free to advertisers, employees, exchanges, serv ice, etc., 3,112; total circulation, 46,348. II. E. Murray, Business Manager. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 24th day of July, 1913. (Seal} H. C. Crosthwait, Notary Public. My commission expires March, 1915. SWORN CIRCULATION STATEMENT June 1st to June 30th CITY CIRCULATION By Carrier 19,144 Street Sales and News Stands 7,891 Suburban Agents (20-Mile Zone) .... .11,007 Total 38,042 COUNTRY CIRCULATION Country Agents 20,933 Mail 6,859 Total 27,792 DAILY AVERAGE CIRCULATION.... 65,834 SUNDAY CIRCULATION 87,589 The above figures are true and correct to the best of my information and belief. (Signed) ALBERT ELLIS, Circulation Manager. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 9th dav of July, 1913. H. C. CROSTHWAIT; N otary Public, Fulton County, Ga. 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