Newspaper Page Text
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FRANK’S STATEMENT IS
BEST PLEA PRESENTED
IN HIS DEFENSE SO EAR
By JAMES B. NEVIN.
So far, unquestionably, to my way
of thinking: Leo Frank himself has
made the best and most appealing
plea in behalf of Leo Frank.
His statement in the recital thereof
was as clean cut, as dignified, as dis
passionate and as convincing as any
statement I ever heard from the wit
ness stand, and I have heard hun
dreds.
Regardless of its merits—or, at
least, aside from that—the defend
ant acquitted himself with credit, and
that much may be said of him un
grudgingly &nd in the frankest fair
ness to all parties concerned.
Of course, had Frank been nerv
ous, hesitating, “fidgety,” or seeming
ly in any wise disconcerted, there
would be those, perhaps, who would
have Seen in that great evidence of
his guilt—and by the same token,
in that he was calm, poised, self-pos
sessed, even smiling at intervals,
there will be those who see in that
evidence of a monstrous coldness and
unfeeling design.
The vast majority of those who
heard that remarkable statement,
however, must have been impressed
by, at least, the apparent sincerity
of it and the seeming inclination in
the defendant to hold back nothing.
In its recital the statement of Leo
Frank was wonderful—In its written
form, stripped of the man’s personal
ity, it still Is a human document of
intense and absorbing interest.
It impressed me, too, as being n
many ways characteristic of Frank
as I have come to know him of late—
and I never spoke one word to him in
all my life.
I have come to know him as the
prisoner sitting over there between
the two women in the courtroom—
the slight, spectacled party, a seat or
two beyond Luther Rosser and Reu
ben Arnold.
I have come to know him, in my
way of knowing persons charged with
grave crimes, not by w;ay of personal
touch so much as by constant obser
vation of him under fire.
Repression Makes the Story.
All that was dramatic in Frank’s
statement was repressed—the dramat
ic touch was there, to be sure, but
the red fire and the usual accom
panying stage tricks were not.
If Frank should undertake to sell
me a gross of pencils. I should ex
pect him to tell me the truth about
the pencils, and nothing but the truth
—but I should expect him neverthe
less to pell me the pencils at a profit.
His statement of Monday seemed
to me a recital much after the fashion
I should expect from him in the pen
cil transaction.
To me, it seetfifed that Frank was
undertaking to tell the truth and
nothing but the truth of the Mary
Phag-an murder, as he knows the
truth—and to tell it at a profit to
himwelf.
That is the best and the worst
that I can say of Leo Frank’s state
ment. as It appealed to me.
True, in a transaction involving a
mbre gross of pencils, there would be
lacking all the great elements that
entered Ih\o the statement Frank
made on Monday—a.hd yet, at that,
neither subject matter is, In Its final
analysis, anything more or less than
something about which the simple
truth Should be told.
Frank looked th'e jury fairly and
squarely in the eye when he was mak
ing his statement—and not once did
he hesitate or falter in stating his
plea.
Contrast the statement of the de
fendant with the statement of the
negTo—'the star witness summoned
against him.
Frank’s Day in Court.
Now, Monday was Frank’s day in
court, and it is square and right that
Frank’s showing should be criticised
freely and frankly—it is right that
his statement should be praised, if it
seemed to deserve praise, just: as it
should be condemned, if it seemed to
merit that melancholy fate.
Contrast it, therefore, with the
statement of Conley!
Argue the matter With yourself.
Certainly, Frank has behind him
a long period of decent life, good rep
utation, business integrity, and home
happiness—and Conley h/ts, what?
Take the two stories—and upon
these two stories the verdict in the
Frank case must turn eventually—
and weigh them, side by side, honest
ly, without prejudice, and in the light
of a clean conscience.
What is your answer?
What will be the jury’s answer?
The field of speculation thus opened
is mos* engaging, and it will, if one
but undertake to enter it seriously
and with open mind, be well worth
the entering.
In the matter of his character.
Frank said little. He entered simple
denials to some few things cited
against him.
He was willing to be cross-exam
ined on his statement. He himself
Insisted that his general character be
put in issue. He furnished the State
with the first information it ever
had that Conley could write.
All the way through, his statement
rang with confident challenge, and a
dare to the State to prove anything
vile in him whatever!
Now, then, people will differ as to
the EFFECT Frank’s statement will
and ought to have on the jury.
Hay be it is a clever evasion of a
grave issue—maybe it is possible of
rebuttal, and maybe it will be broken
down.
Impressively Delivered.
The fhet remains that it was most
impressively delivered, and carried
with it every emphasis of apparent
truth and straightforwardness!
It is my opinion now that the State
has in Frank’s statement the hard
est thing to get away from that yet
has been tendered to it.
It contradicts the State at points
that the defense has been able to for
tify abundantly with facts.
It makes more necessary than ever
before the complete success of the
State’s efforts to break down Frank’s
good name.
For I think It safe to predict that
unless the State DOES demolish
Frank utterly, the wonderful state
ment he made on Monday more than
likely will serve In connection with
the other things set up—to clear him
of the charge bf murdering Mary
Phagan!
Tt matters not. so far as this arti
cle is concerned, moreover, whether
the statement ought to clear him—
the prospect is that it WILL clear
him unless the State can batter it
down and collapse it entirely!
The defendant touched upon every
phase of the State’s case against him
—the happiness of his home, his
nervousness on the morning of the
murder, his movements on the day
of the crime, and the day before, and
the day after, his family’s financial
resources, his disinclination to talk
to Conley, although he at first talked
freely to the police officers, his alleged
peeping into the girls’ dressing room,
his lack of knowled^ of or acquaint
ance with the impeached Dalton, his
non-association With loose characters,
male and female.
There was not a point he failed to
touch, even though he seemed to
todch points now and then with a
measure of fine scorn!
Is there a gap that Frank MIGHT
let down that he has FAILED to let
down ?
Is there a point involved that Frank
has not invited investigation of?
Hard to Find Gaps.
It is rather hard to locate any such
gaps of points, if they are there.
And yet they may be there! That
Is for the State yet to demonstrate!
The State has the full right of re
buttal, as applied to Frank s state
ment, that it enjoys In respect of
other evidence. There may be weak
points in his story—just as there
were weak noints In Cofl0$y’s.
The point is that they are not
nearly so apparent upon the surface
of things in the Frank statement.
For one thing, Conley made four
sworn statements, all contradictory,
before be got one finally landed, and
Conley admitted freely from the stand
that he had lied time and again.
On the other hand, Frank s state
ment is the first and only sustained
and sequenced utterance as to the de
tails of his story yet falling from his
lips.
It must stand in Its entirety or fall
In its entirety.
Whatever may be the effect of that
siAtfertieht in the efid, it will fcb down
in the criminal history of Georgia as
one of the most remarkably clear and
apparently convincing statements ever
falling from a defendant’s lips.
When the State gets through with
it, the statenij?pt may be shot to
pieces artfThqnflfcred..Utterly ineffective.
As It stafi&KT t6-<5ay, however, I
hardly think a dozen people who
henrd It will deny the profound Im
pression it made, and the present
probability of its determining effect
upon the minds.of the jury.
The deferral has played its best card
in Leo Frank's statement.
It remains yet to be seen, how
ever, whether that card is sufficient
to win the case!
Fresh Appeal for
Exhibit To Be Made
Three hundred ‘Atthnta manufactur
ers will gather at Hotel Ansley for
a luncheon at 1 o’clock Tuesday. They
will discuss the manufacturers’ ex
position which the Chamber of Com
merce has been endeavoring to estab
lish in its building.
While many manufacturers have
signed for space in the exhibit* there
still is a large amount which has not
been taken. Unless this is arranged
for immediately, the proposition is
likely to fall through.
Enthusiasm has been displayed,
however, and around the Chamber of
Commerce the belief is that the ex
position is assured.
JUDGE MATTHEWS HOLDSCOURT
JACKSON.—Judge H. A. Mat
thews, of Macon, is holding court here
this week for Judge # Robert T. Dan
iel, of the Flint Circuit, who is «11.
The criminal calendar will be reached
about the middle of the week, civil
business having been taken up Mon
day.
Freddy Film
1918. International New* Sfrrnop
He Gets Another Scalp
Wtll, I HAti
T SHOW TH 1
BOSS THAT
rii a bao
MAN !
“MORE OINKS"
AROUND HERE-.'
I HATE
MEET NEW BRINSON MANAGER.
SAVANNAH,—About 40 agents of
the Brinson Railway are assembled
In Savannah to get acquainted with
R. Morgan, the new general man
ager.
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN ANT) NEWS.
REACHPEACE
Report of War Move Against the
United States Is Denied by
Charge O’Shaughnessy.
Continued from Page 1.
tion from the American Government
by last midnight.
He found these reports unfounded
and spread the news among the mem
bers of the American colony in Mexi
co City. The population seemed to
take it for granted that Huerta was
about to make the desperate play
which he long had threatened.
Secretary Brvan to-day denied that
the State Department had received
any Ultimatum from Mexico concern
ing recognition of the Huerta gov
ernment by any stated time, or that
Charge d’Affairea O’Shaughnessy had
been given his passports and told to
leave Mexico.
The State Department was in
formed to-day by Charge d’Affaires
O’Shaughnessy that Senor Gamboa,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, has de
nied the statement made by Senor
Urrutia, Minister of the Interior, con
cerning the reported ultimatum, and
it is believed here that the outlook
for a peaceful settlement of the trou
bles between the two nations is more
promising at the present time than
it has been in the pest fortnight.
Wild Rumor Laid to Cabinet.
Charge d’Affaires O’Shaughnessy, in
his telegram to the State Depart
ment to-day, reported that President
Huerta and Envoy Lind were con
ferring concerning the final settle
ment of the difficulties between the
two countries. While he did not
comment on the situation beyond giv
ing a bare report of the fact, Mr.
O’Shaughnessy strongly indicated
that he hoped for a peaceful settle
ment and that the next 48 hours prob
ably would bring developments lead
ing to a compact between the United
States and Mexico.
It is believed at the State Depart
ment that the sensational reports em
anating from Mexico City last night
were inspired by the Huerta Cabinet.
It is thought that the Mexican news
papers wpr« instructed to print only
this story and that they will not car-
ry*the denial of this ultimatum issued
by Senor Gamboa early to-day.
In this way, it is believed, the
Huerta government will be enabled
to “save its face” before the Mexican
people without at the same time
bringing on war with the United
States.
New Insurance Firm
Open for Business
Announcement of the establishment
of the French & Lochrid-ge Insurance
Agency was made Tuesday morning
by T. B. Fbench and Clifford L. Loeh-
ridge. The new agency takes its
place among the business enterprises
of Atlanta with every prospect of suc
cess. Mr. Fbehch and Mr. Lochridge
were with The Atlanta Constitution
for several rears and have made an
extehsive study of all forms of in
surance.
They have obtained the local agen -
cy for two of the leading companies
of the United States and a German
company. Associated with them s
John R. (‘‘Jake’) Rauschenberg, a
widely known insurance man. The
offices of the new agency are in the
Candler Building.
Militants Destroy
Historic Altar Cloth
Special Cable to The Atlanta Georgian.
LANBERIS, WALES, Aug. 19.—
Suffragettes to-day destroyed a beau
tiful historic altar cloth in the Paris
Church at the foot of Mount Snow
don.
BEDFORD. ENGLAND, Aug.. 19.—
A large lumber yard was burned here
to-day by militant suffragettes.
3 Years in Prison
• For Selling Liquor
MERIDIAN, MISS., Aug. 19.—Prob
ably the heaviest sentence ever im
posed for the illegal sale of liquor
in this State was given when Trav-
ant Johnson, a crinple, to-day was
given three years in the penitentiary.
The law makes the third sale of
liquor a penitentiary offense.
Moonshiner Slays
Man in Pistol Duel
LEXINGTON, Aug. 19—In a pis
tol duel at Burnside, Ky., between
Joshua Carter, a moonshiner, and
John Fitzgerald and Town Marshal
John Ooomer, Fitzgerald was killed
and Coomer wounded by Carter. The
slayer forced a ferryman to row him
across a river when pursued by a
posse. Officers wounded him as he
escaped to the mountain's. A posse
is in pursuit.
COLUMBUS CONCERN BANKRUPT
COLUMBUS.—The Smith-Gordy-
Boyd Furniture Company, one of the
oldest establishments of the kind in
Columbus, has filed a petition of
bankruptcy in the Federal Court,
placing assets at $10,885.48 and lia
bilities at $9,067.20. .The manager .of
the firm died recently. •’
Sunday American's Trail-Blaz
ing Car Reaches Tallapoosa
on First Day's Run.
By HUGH GRANT.
(Sunday American Representative
With Pathfinder.)
TALLAPOOSA, Aug. 19. E. L.
Ferguson, official ''pathfinder ’ for the
All-Southern Transcontinental High
way, and party ended a triumphant
tour through Georgia here Monday
night. The party, consisting of Mr.
Ferguson. Mrs. Ferguson and the Fer
guson children, arrived on schedule
time at 5:45 o’clock. The tourists
left early Tuesday morning for An
niston. They will be joined en route
by President John Craft, of the Ala
bama Good Roads Association, and
State Highway Engineer Keller, who
will accompany them through Ala
bama.
That Tallapoosa is keenly awake to
the importance of the monster project
to blaze a trail from Atlanta to San
Francisco was clearly indicated Mon
day night when a score of Talla-
poosans, including Mayor C. E.
Pearce, L. E. Chandler, editor of The
Tallapoosa Journal, and other promi
nent citizens, heldl a conference with
Mr. Ferguson at the Tallapoosa Hotel
In regard to the formulation of plans
for the development of better roads in
this vicinity.
The Tallapoosa good roads boosters
wt»re very enthusiastic over the'cam
paign Inaugurated by The Sunday
American, and pledged their heart*’
support.
All Towns Givj Welcome.
Tallapoosa’s warm reception, how
ever, was only one of many between
here and Atlanta. All along th£ 63-
mile route the good roads boosters
turned out to give the transcontl-
nentalists a rousing send-off.
At Austell Mayor L. C. Upshaw and
Editor Dake, of The Douglasville New
Era, heading a delegation of Douglas
ville boosters, met the tourists and
escorted them to Douglasville. H^re
good roads and highways were talked
of. and a typical old-time Georgia
dinner was served at the Douglasville
Hotel, with Mayor Upshaw and Mr.
Dake acting as hosts.
Other Douglasville citizens who act
ed as official escorts were R. E. Ed
wards, J. F. Long, superintendent of
the cotton mill; J. M. Banks, and
Douglas County Commissioners J. T.
Lee and A. S. Gresham.
According to Mr. Gresham, the
Douglas County authorities are pre
paring now to spend several thousand
dollars on the development of the old
Tallapoosa road. The largest work
will be the construction of a new ste^l
bridge over Sweetwater Creek costing
approximately $2,000.
The improvement in Douglas Coun
ty of the Tallapoosa highway which
was traversed by the Ferguson party
and which has been selected as the
official route will make this one of
the best roads in the entire State.
Pathfinder Ferguson declared Mon- i
Tech Commercial
Course Endowment
Is Growing Rapidly
More than 25 of tne 100 required
guarantors for the new commercial
course at Tech, to be launched at the
opening of the 1913-14 term Septem
ber 15, have been obtained, and an ac
tive campaign Is being waged to com
plete the list by Saturday.
Each of the 100 guarantors Is to
give the sum of $25. making an en
dowment of $2,500. The eum may he
Increased later.
Classes In practical accounting,
commercial law, business economics,
auditing, banking and similar sub
jects will be taught. Afternoon
classes from 4 to * o'clock will be
conducted to give business men of
Atlanta an opportunity to attend.
Professor E. C. Green, formerly of
New York City, but for the past year
an Instructor at Tech, will be at the
head of the department. Pour other
Tech professors will assist him. Ed
gar Watkins will be oounsei for the
law department, and Joel Hunter for
the accounting.
Anniston Has World’s
Biggest Casting Pits
ANNISTON, Aug. 19.—Anniston’s
latest world-beater comes in the form
of the largest ca.sting pits in exis
tence, it is said, at the new plant of
the Lynchburg Foundry Company,
which is nearing completion. The
plant will make pressure pipe.
Although there are labor-saving de
vices on every hand at the new plant,
it is said that it will employ 200 men
when it is put into blast, and when
the other two ptts are completed this
number will be doubled.
3 ITUM BILLS
With more than 200 bills on Gov
ernor Slaton’s desk which had to be
signed immediately, the doors of the
executive offices were closed to vlaU
tors Tuesday while the Governor
delved Into the mass of work In an
effort to get the bills signed and out
of the way before the next batch
came from the engrossing clerks pf
the House and Senate.
The Governor expects to sign all
the bills that reach him Tuesday be
fore the day is over, in order to fore
stall any discussion as to whether
Sunday shall be counted as one of the
five days In which he is allowed to
sign bills passed by the Legislature.
Up to Tuesday morning Governor
Slaton had signed only one of the
three local bills affecting Atlantr.. This
was the measure creating a new judge
for the Atlanta Circuit, which he ap
proved Monday afternoon. The other
two, the bill creating a new charter
for the city and the bill creating mu
nicipal courts, probably will be signed
Tuesday. *
It is understood the Governor will
defer appointing the new Atlanta
judge until he returns from the con
ference of Governors at Colorado
Springs, Colo., next week. Governor
Slaton will leave Saturday, to be gone
about ten days.
Special Session Idea
In Alabama Growing
BIRMINGHAM, Aug. 19.—That
Governor O’Neal may cal) a special
session of the Leflutature In order
to (rtraighten out the United States
Senatorial mud<U e appears more like
ly to-day. •
Tim untt-,fee system advocate* in
Jefferson <’o8nty, the largest county
In the State, are working hard to
have Included In the call for the *pe-
cial session the anti-fee system bill.
It !» pointed out that the Sheriff of
Jefferson County gets In fees almost
as much per annum as did the Pres
ident of the United States before the
last Increase In salary of the latter.
Suffragettes Want
Baby Booth at Fairs
NEW YORK. Aug. 19.—Among the
things that the suffragettes, headed
by Harriet Stanton Blatch. want is a
pocket in their skirts and a plac* at
fairs where women can check Ihelr
babies.
Mrs. Rlatch visited a numbteV of
fairs throughout the State and de
clares It a crying shame that at- not
one of them did she find a place
whore mothers could leave tbelr
babies while thay rambled around the
park.
SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION.
COLUMBUS. Aug. 19.—The Lee
County, Alabama, annual Sunday
School Convention begins Tuesday at
Waverly. Prominent Sunday School
workers from all sections of Alabama
will be in attendance. -.
Aged Fat Man in Furs
With Mercury at 100
BOSTON, Aug. 19.—While the
street thermometers registered 100
here, a man aged and fat, wearing a
heavy winter suit, a heavy ulster that
reached the ground, heavy shoes and
a fur cap, with the laps turned down
over the ears, Was seen wandering
about the streets, seemingly cool.
ilimiiiiiR M. Rich & Bros. Co.
Patent, Gun-Metal and Tan
% -~
§ Pumps and Oxfords
day night that the road between Aus
tell and Douglasville was excellent,
and that he remaining sections were
good and could be put in fine shape
by the expenditure of moderate sums
in each county.
Leaving Dowglasville Monday aft
ernoon. Mr. Ferguson and party made
a bee line for Villa Rica, arriving
there on schedule at 3:40. Temple,
Ga., was reached shortly after 4
o’clock, Bremen at 5, Waco at 5:15
and Tallapoosa at 5:45. Members of
the party reported a most delightful
trip, with not a single mishap to mar
the journey.
A wMre from Heflin, Ala., Tuesday
morning told of elaborate prepara
tions there for the reception of Mr.
Ferguson and party. From Heflin the
tourists will proceed to Anniston,
Ala., where a monster good roads cel
ebration will be held a a greeting
ebration will be held as a greeting
guson expects to reach Birmingham
Thursday at noon.
$4 and $5 stock stylos
$2.95
S£
The opportunity Ls too profitable to rhisa. Thhse ■£
styles are, without exception, the newest obtainable.
Other values at $1.05 and $3.95. ^
$3.50 and $4
-5 White Canvas
:■ P u
m
s
$1.95
All sizes
$7 Brooklyn-made
Spanish Heel
Colonial Pumps
$5.45
All sizes
| M. Rich & Bros. Co.
IMM “A Department of Famous Shoes.” MW
SALE N-O-W ON!
“Correct Dress for Men”
Essig Bros. Co. August
Reduction Sale
Here are Two Items that should interest
Every Man in Atlanta. The Prices
are cut far—and Deep—to Close out
Before Inventory!
All Fancy Suits— All Fancy Suits—
up to and including gen^iino $18.50 values
for a quick clearance. Buy them for
that regularly sell from $20 up to and includ
ing $27.50, marked now for you to take
home with you at
This Positively
Is a Cash
Sale
Essig Bros
ti
Correct Dress for Men.”
26 Whitehall St.