January 21, 2020 • 41 mins
In Forsyth County, a vicious welcome awaits several black families who return to their homes in early 1913. And a brand new drama takes center stage when a night watchman makes a shocking, late-night discovery in the basement of an Atlanta factory.
Months covered in this episode: 23-28 (of 56)
The Catlick digital scrapbook is NOW LIVE with vintage photos, maps, bonus episodes & more. To subscribe, just go to http://catlick.com, and click on VAULT.
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* Catlick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/catlickpodcast *
* Be sure to follow ATL comics @allyedge and @damonjr2 on Instagram.
Months covered in this episode: 23-28 (of 56)
The Catlick digital scrapbook is NOW LIVE with vintage photos, maps, bonus episodes & more. To subscribe, just go to http://catlick.com, and click on VAULT.
* Browse t-shirts, stickers, & prints at http://catlick.com *
* Catlick on Instagram: http://instagram.com/catlickpodcast *
* Catlick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/catlickpodcast *
* Be sure to follow ATL comics @allyedge and @damonjr2 on Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
All right. Next up, wehave remedies for a black eye. For
a black eye, so a coupleof steps here. Number one, immediately
after the eye has been struck,apply a cloth wet with water. Seems
simple enough, but then it saysdo not put on leeches. After that,
an application of brandy is another goodremedy. And finally, the application
(00:22):
of raw beef is another very superiormeans for removing the discoloration. Well,
listen, I will agree with this. The application of brandy is a good
remedy for most things I have foundin my life. Yeah, so that's
pretty on point. I think I'mreading from an old book printed in the
(00:45):
nineteen twenties. It's called Vitology.Eu gen xers might remember that Pearl Jam
put out an album in nineteen ninetyfour called Vitology. That album cover was
an exact copy of the cover ofthis book. These are my friends,
Ali and Damon were at my placein Cabbage Town, near downtown Atlanta.
(01:06):
When people write rules, people havedone what they said not to do.
I don't know how many leeches havebeen put on in this village, but
I do know that it was animportant nation right down for sure. I've
never been close to leeches. I'velooked at them on Google, and I'm
like, I would never I wouldnever know about my face. How do
you even find a leach? Howdo you find a leech? You know
(01:26):
what, that's a more important question. You're probably the guy who should get
punch if you're that's how you gottrying to get back to get some leeches,
and they're like, you're an idiot. This vitology book I'm reading from
is thick. It's like a thousandpages. It was like a home medical
advice book for back then, filledwith all kinds of remedies, cures,
(01:47):
and general life advice. Next up, All right, so this is a
remedy for bleedings from the stomach orvomiting of blood. That's the category remedy
number one. The patient should beconfined to the bed. Small pieces of
ice should be swallowed. Not toobad. But then it says we take
a sharp turn here. Firm pressureshould be made upon the anus with a
(02:10):
napkin under the hand, so allefforts to expel it cease. It sometimes
happens that vomiting of blood takes theplace of the minstrel flow. How Emma
let you take this. Oh,there's so many there's so many things wrong
with this. First of all,if you're vomiting blood, what does the
(02:31):
other end have anything to do withit? I don't understand. This is
a real friendship testament here, friendshiplisten. If you're listening to this,
do you have a friend that isclose enough? Would you would give them
two paper tails to pressure to Idon't. I don't have a friend.
(02:51):
My wife is close to me.That's ground. You know. It was
a good run. Let's split thekids up. I found this book at
an antique market in South Atlanta,and when I started reading it, I
realized it had lots of ridiculous stuffin it. Alien Damon are comics here
in Atlanta, and I thought it'dbe fun just to read some of these
weird medical remedies and let them comeand comment on them, all right.
(03:15):
Next up diabetes, which in parenthesesit says excessive flow of urine, So
I don't know if that was liketheir definition of dot. I don't know.
Anyways, The description says this diseaseis indicated by excessive discharges of sweet
urine of a pale yellowish or greenishyellow color. Sometimes the patient discovers that
(03:37):
it is sweetish to the taste.False. Why are we Why are we
tasting our urine? Why is that? You're like, you know what,
that doesn't look like the right color. Let me just let see if it
tastes. Yeah, sweet is howthey describe your sweet yarin sweet urin?
(03:59):
Yes, Dan, all right?This next one, it's another image.
So what we're looking at. It'sa black and white illustration. We have
two men. One of the menis wearing a suit. He's laying on
a table and what looks like adoctor's office, a therapist office. He's
laying on his back. On topof him is another man. He is
standing athwart him. His hands areout in a very victorious pose, and
(04:20):
it looks like he's surfing on theman he's standing on. His right foot
is on the man's abdomen. Hisleft foot is just below the man's thank
you, And the title is subjectsuggestive hypnotism, So we're looking at a
scene of some kind of hypnosis.One man standing atop another thoughts, there's
(04:44):
no what a suggestive hypnotism that direction. This guy is wearing a three piece
suit standing on top of another grownman. I'm like, what part of
this is hypnotism? This guy lookscalm and cool and collective, line down
like any grown man. If anygrown man tried to stand on my body,
(05:04):
I can't have it. Okay,that's how Damon and I are different.
Oh man. Looking at history's darkestand most depressing moments can wear you
out. Yeah. I get thatit's nothing compared to the people who had
(05:25):
to live them. But still,human history is filled with progress. But
the sad, shocking, and dismalstories are the ones that stick with us.
I have to admit it's easier tolook away. Still, we need
to look at them and sit withthem every generation. This is the only
way to know where we've been.Nevertheless, you've got to leave room,
(05:47):
to step away, to breathe,to come up for air, and to
laugh. That's as important as thelooking. I'm glad you're here. You're
listening to Catolic And this is episodefourteen, A Body in the Basement.
(06:49):
We ended our last episode in Octoberof nineteen twelve. Ernest Knox and Oscar
Daniel were executed for the murder ofmay Crow, publicly hanged as thou thousands
of Forsyth County residents watched and cheered. In the days after the double lynching,
the residents of Forsyth County must havebasked in the glow of justice well
(07:11):
served and their newfound sense of safety. After all, by the end of
October, Macro's Black attackers had beeneliminated and the night raiders had left every
black homestead empty. If the blackcommunity really was behind all this violence,
then surely forsythe county would be muchsafer now that they were all gone.
(07:32):
Right. Just four days after thedouble hanging, this headline popped in the
Atlanta Constitution, Page eight. Assassinswound forsythe farmer the lead D. W.
Elliott, a wealthy farmer of ForsythCounty, today lies at the point
(07:56):
of death with this skull crushed,having been assaulted by unknown person's late last
night while returning from Gainesville. Theassault occurred around ten o'clock last night as
mister Elliott was driving along a lonelysection of the road in his buggy.
The article lists the location of theattack as seven miles north of Coming.
(08:18):
You know what else's seven miles northof Coming. The rural and obscure community
of Oscarville and you may remember wholived in Oscarville, may Crow. This
guy d w Elliott was ambushed whiletraveling alone at night in the exact same
(08:39):
area where may Crow was attacked.I can only imagine what went through the
minds of the white residence of thecounty. I mean, you have to
assume their instinct was to point thefinger at the black fiends of forsythe But
one major problem with that there wereno black fiends left in forsythe County.
(09:00):
There couldn't be, because there wereno black people left in forsythe County.
For the second time in as manymonths, some homicidal maniac had emerged from
the woods to attack and bludgeon todeath some loan traveler on the dusty backroads
of Oscarville. The lynchings, thenight riders, the terror, all of
it was designed to make for scytheCounty safer in theory. Yet here they
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were, just days after that bigdose of alleged justice had been served,
and for scythe County still has akiller on the loose. Go figure.
After this attack on dw Eliot,things calmed down and forsythe County for a
few months at least down in Atlanta, life went on as usual as fall
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turned to winter. In late nineteentwelve, on Christmas Day, the Brunswick
News reported that a woman named MattieCarter was killed in Atlanta. The article
noted that she was a young blackwasherwoman who'd been shot in the heart and
then beaten with an axe. Herbody was left on a vacant lot on
Roger Street in the neighborhood of Kirkwood. Because of its proximity to other similar
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murders, the article attributed her deathto the Ripper, noting that quote Jack,
the Ripper is on the war pathagain. Of course, it's tough
to know if this was a trueRipper murder, but like I've mentioned before,
reporters were quick to use the Rword to increase interest in an otherwise
random murder. About a week later, the Ripper would be mentioned yet again,
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this time in the Atlantic Constitution.On New Year's Day of nineteen thirteen,
the Constitution ran a front page storywith a big dramatic headline, blood
flowed in a Crimson stream in yearnineteen twelve. Of course, when reading
these old articles, you have toalways be on the look out for hyperbole.
(11:01):
But in this case the headline appearsto be justified. The article recaps
the wave of murders that had sweptover the city in the year before.
The article notes that nineteen twelve hadthe most murders on record in Atlanta since
the Civil War forty seven years earlier. In nineteen twelve, there were fifty
(11:22):
five murders in the city, andthe article notes that this was considerably more
than even the city of London,with its millions of people. This is
actually a fairly good point. Innineteen twelve, the population of Atlanta was
only about one hundred and fifty thousand. At the same time, London was
a city of about seven million.That means Atlanta had more murders than another
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city fifty times as big. Whatcaused the uptick in violence in nineteen twelve,
well, historians usually point to thecivic unrest caused by mass and gracian
and social inequality, but ultimately theystill aren't sure. What we are sure
of is that by February of nineteenthirteen, some wealthy white folks up in
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for scythe County were ready to havetheir black laborers back. It had been
five months since the black residence ofForsyth County had been driven away. In
addition to this being a grave injusticeand a human rights catastrophe, it also
created a major labor shortage around thecounty. Crops rotted in the fields as
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farmers struggled to find anyone to harvestthem. Local merchants raised their prices to
cover increased labor costs, and thehomes of for SCI's wealthy white citizens used
to relying upon black labor were plungedinto disarray. One such home was that
of John and Laura Hockinhall. Johnhockin Hall was a successful physician with an
(12:56):
office in downtown Coming. His wifeLaura managed the affairs of their considerable estate.
For years, they'd house several blackfamilies on their property, specifically the
Blakes, the Smiths, and theirGrahams, in exchange for free rent and
fair wages. These families kept theHawk and Hoole estate running smoothly well.
(13:18):
In the fall of nineteen twelve,these three families fled for scythe county,
just like all the others since then, the three cabins reserved for the Hawk
and Holl's hired help sat dark andabandoned by February of nineteen thirteen. Laura
Hawkin Hall was exhausted and just fedup, so she began pressuring her husband
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to find the three black families andrecruit them back to their cabins and back
to their previous jobs as essential contributorsto their family affairs. Doctor Hock and
Hooll made a few calls and sureenough located all three families they'd been living
as refugees in a neighboring county withthe promise of bigger wages in a secure
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living situation. His pitch was asuccess. The Blakes, Smiths, and
Grahams all agreed to return to theirlives and for scythe County, and days
later they quietly moved back into theircabins within the safe confines of the Hock
and Hoole land. All was well, but not for long. Despite their
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efforts to be discreet, word hadgotten around for scythe County had been breached,
the new rules had been broken,and the powers that be, Yeah,
they weren't having it. In thewee morning hours of February the nineteenth,
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the sleeping residence of Coming were joltedout of bed by the sound of
a massive explosion in the distance.The Atlantic Constitution reported that the blast was
so intense that it quote shook manybuildings. Around three am, someone had
snuck onto the Hawk and Hole propertyimplanted dynamite under the floorboards of the three
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cabins housing the newly returned black families. Three distinct explosions were heard for miles
around. The Constitution reported that twoof the cabins were badly damaged and one
was almost completely leveled. We don'tknow the extent of the injuries of those
sleeping inside, but we can assumeit must have been awful. For all
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their positive intentions, the Hawk andHoll's plan backfired horribly and violently. The
message was clear. For scythe Countyis a white county now forever and always
loud and clear for generations to come. And when I say generations here,
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I mean generations. For scythe county'sracial cleansing didn't just last a year.
It didn't just last five years,not even ten or fifteen. Oh No,
as far as we can tell,for scythe County was an all white
county for about seventy five years.In the decades after the bombing of those
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three cabins. There were scattered reportsof black residents of tempting to move into
or move back to for Scythe County, but they were met with violence almost
every time. There were rumors ofsome families possibly living on the edge of
the county in the nineteen thirties,but for all intents and purposes, for
scythe County maintained their black people banat least until the nineteen eighties. It's
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unbelievable when you think about it.So what changed in the nineteen eighties,
Well buckle up for that story.For most of the twentieth century, for
scythe County had existed as a quiet, rural enclay far north of the growing
city of Atlanta, But by thenineteen eighties that began to change. When
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Atlanta began experiencing white flight in thesixties and seventies, the vast majority of
those white people fleeing the city movedin the same direction north Buckhead, then
Roswell, then Alpharetta, then Miltonand beyond. Atlanta's sprawl was and still
is notorious. As the people movednorth, infrastructure followed. Huge subdivisions and
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shopping malls were built, and ofcourse roads. Atlanta's disastrous decision to under
invest in public transit spurred the endlessconstruction of new roads, highways, and
interstates. It's why traffic suck sobad today. One of those highways built
in the seventies and eighties was GeorgiaState Route four hundred. Today we just
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call it Highway four hundred. Highwayfour hundred runs northeast out of Atlanta,
and if you drive it today,you eventually end up in the little town
of Coming. By the nineteen eighties, Highway four hundred was a key transit
artery, offering a direct connection betweenAtlanta and for scythe county. For scythe
county, shady past could hide nomore. And so it was around nineteen
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eighty seven when the rumblings of aprotest began to shake. Not just a
protest, but a march scheduled forthe seventy fifth anniversary of the racial cleansing
of nineteen twelve. They would callit the March for Brotherhood, and it
was designed as a peaceful march,a symbolic event that would acknowledge the county's
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racist past and quietly but firmly advocatefor change. In nineteen eighty seven,
several of the legends of the civilrights movement were still alive and still living
in Atlanta. Joseah Williams was oneof them. Josea Williams had stood side
by side with John Lewis way backin nineteen sixty five as they marched across
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the now infamous Edmund Pettis Bridge inSelma, Alabama. When Josiah Williams signed
on to the March for Brotherhood ofnineteen eighty seven, it drew lots of
attention from the media. He wasjust the person needed to help shine a
spotlight on the sins of forsythe county. January seventeenth, nineteen eighty seven was
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chosen as the day of the protest. On that frigid morning, Josiah Williams
and his fellow protesters met at theKing Center in Atlanta and boarded a bus.
Within minutes, the bus was glidingnorth along the asphalt of Highway four
hundred, bound for Forsyth County.After the forty minute ride, the bus
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of protesters reached the edges of coming. They'd planned for some resistance, but
they'd not expected this. As thebus lumbered onto Forsyth County pavement. It
was met by a howling crowd,a mob rather of more than two thousand,
five hundred white Forsyth County ds.It was a sea of counter protesters
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shouting, jeering, and mocking.Confederate flags waved in every direction. Handmade
signs blasting expletives and racist threats werehoisted high into the air. This was
going to be drama. Surrounded bypolice, the fifty or so protesters got
off the bus and began their march. The gray haired Jose Williams led the
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way. The protesters had been specificallytrained in Doctor King's tactics of non violence.
Stay close, don't react, don'trespond, stay on mission. The
group kept marching forward through a hostilecorridor of angry counter protesters lining both sides
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of Bethelview Road, and within secondsobjects began to fly, first a rock
than a beer bottle, but asthe crowd grew more bold, they reached
for anything they could find. Sticks, rocks, bottles, and cans rained
down on the marchers as they attemptedto make their way to the Versyth County
Courthouse. As the group marched,they were protected by local police. On
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all sects. It's easy to seethis scene and think of the six black
prisoners being escorted through the streets ofComing seventy five years ago, armed guards
on all sides. The same shoutingand jeering now coming from the direct descendants
of those who've done the same severalgenerations before. After a few minutes,
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local police could sense the escalation amidstthe screams, they pulled the protester organizers
in for a quick update, basicallysaying, guys, we can no longer
guarantee your safety. We advise youto get back on that bus immediately.
Though hesitant to call the march offso quickly, they agreed and got back
on the bus. As the doorclosed and the bus pulled away, the
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crowd led out a massive victory cheer. They'd won shround at least that initial
Brotherhood march caught the eye of severalmedia outlets, including The New York Times.
They ran a story on the marchfor Brotherhood with some key quotes from
Joseo. Williams himself. One quotein particular makes it clear just how tense
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it was that day. Here's aquote from Williams. I have never seen
such hatred I've been in the civilrights movement thirty years and I'm telling you
we've got a South Africa in thebackyard of Atlanta. There were youngsters ten
and twelve years old screaming their lungsout kill the inn word. I've been
in many situations, but never onethat was any worse. Though the first
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Brotherhood March fizzled, the second wouldflourish. Organizers in Atlanta quickly began planning
a return trip to Forsyth, onlythis time they would not be outnumbered.
The second march was planned exactly oneweek after the first one. On the
morning of January twenty fourth, protestersin Atlanta boarded not one, but two
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hundred charter buses. That fleet ofbuses, along with lots of others in
cars, formed a massive convoy rollingnorth on Highway four hundred. This time,
Joseah Williams would be joined by othericons of the civil rights movement,
including John Lewis, Joseph Lowery,and even CORRETTA. Scott King. US
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senators, local dignitaries, and ahandful of celebrities joined the march as well.
When the caravan arrived in coming,the media was ready. Local,
national, and international news outlets swarmedthe area news. Helicopters hovered overhead,
and of course OPRAH was in town. When they arrived, twenty thousand protesters
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got off the buses and began filinginto the streets of forsythe County. This
time they were met by a crowdof about fifteen hundred counter protesters, a
bit smaller but just as angry asbefore. Author Patrick Phillips notes that a
massive team of law enforcement kept thepeace that day. This included three hundred
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and fifty State troopers, one hundredand eighty five agents with the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation, and two thousand soldierswith the Georgia National Guard. The second
march, though tense, went offmuch more smoothly than the first. The
massive delusion protesters overwhelmed the racist chantsand actions of the all white counter protesters.
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This time, the marchers ended onthe steps of the forsythe County court
House, where civil rights legend JosephLowry spoke, reminding the locals quote,
we did not come to forsythe Countyto scare you to death. We came
to challenge you to live a lifeof decency. In the days after the
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Second Brotherhood March. There were severalattempts to help for scythe county address their
racial issues. Demands were made committeesreform, but within months it all fizzled
out. Three years after the march, in nineteen ninety, the US Census
tallied exactly fourteen black citizens living inForsyth County. The countywide population that year
(25:18):
was around forty four thousand. That'sfourteen out of forty four thousand. In
the nineties for scythe counties population swelledwith newcomers, Some move for new economic
opportunities, and others moved there toescape the crime, sprawl or traffic of
Atlanta. Either way, the twothousand census counted around one hundred thousand residents
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of Forsyth County, with six hundredand eighty four of them being African American,
a considerable increase from nineteen ninety,but still only point seven percent of
the county's total population. So whatis Forsyth County like today? Well,
a lot has changed, but somehasn't. I've spent some time there in
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recent months on a quiet little missionto discover whether or not the county has
owned up to its dark history.I'll talk a lot more about that in
the later episode. Okay, let'sget back to our story. Those three
black families were driven out of theircabins in February of nineteen thirteen. That
would be month twenty six of ourstory. Remember, Catlic covers fifty six
(26:29):
months of unbelievable events that happened inAtlanta, and we're looking at four big
stories that happened within those fifty sixmonths. The first story was that of
the Atlanta Ripper, the second wasthe racial purge of Forsyth County, and
the third, well fit starts rightnow. Little Marie and began day wind
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the bento back three to get ourlittle paid. We left our home at
thevon we hit our mother goodbye,not one time in the bordchild thing that
he was going to die. It'sApril of nineteen thirteen, month number twenty
eight of our story. On Saturday, April twenty sixth, the morning edition
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of the Atlantic Constitution rolled off thepresses and into the eager hands of Atlantin's
On this day in the South's grandcity, most were hoping for warm spring
sun. However, no such luck. That day's weather prophecy called for overcast
skies with a chance of rain.The big news that day on the front
page was about Italian opera star EnricoCaruso performing at the Grand Opera House in
(27:47):
downtown Atlanta. However, the otherbig news of the day was about the
Confederate Memorial Day parade scheduled for thatafternoon in downtown Atlanta. In eighteen seventy
four, the Georgia General Assembly establishedApril twenty sixth as Confederate Memorial Day,
an official state holiday for remembering andmemorializing those who'd fought in the South's failed
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attempt to secede from America. Soby nineteen thirteen, this well established tradition
had been around for about thirty nineyears. The Atlantic Constitution published details of
the parade, promising that it wouldbe quote one of the finest and most
splendid pageants ever seen in Atlanta onany similar occasion. The paper also posted
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the order of the parade lineup.It included platoons of mounted police, the
Grand Marshal, the Governor, theboy Scouts, the Oddfellows, the Governor's
horse guard, and finally, theever revered veterans of the Confederacy, many
of them now stooped over gray hairedmen in their geriatric years. The parade
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would begin at two PM and weaveits way down Peachtree Street, Atlanta's famous
thoroughfare of storefronts, stately mansions,and glitsee high rises. That same morning,
thirteen year old Mary Fagin was finalizingher plans to attend the Confederate Memorial
Day parade. Mary was thirteen yearsold. She had fair skin and caught
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the eye of all the boys herage. She was very pretty. Mary
Fagin lived northwest of downtown Atlanta ina small community called Bellwood. Now,
Billwood was not a fancy area.It was a working class neighborhood home to
lots of poor, white families who'dmoved to Atlanta in search of jobs in
(29:41):
eighteen ninety nine. Mary was bornin Alabama, but her father died shortly
before she was born. Struggling tosupport their family, Mary's mom moved the
family to Georgia. After a briefstint in the town of Marietta, the
family finally landed in Bellwood, justa bit northwest of downtown Atlanta. Mary's
mom got remarried, and they wereone of the countless families in Atlanta who'd
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relocated there from outlying rural farming communities. These families comprised the white working class
of Atlanta, and it was thesefamilies that staffed the city's fast growing factories
in the early nineteen hundreds. Now, the whites of Atlanta's high society often
looked down on these people, andit was during this era of American life
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when the term cracker was coined,a derogatory slur used to insult the South's
lower class whites. It could besaid that Mary Fagan came from a family
of crackers. After all, bythe age of thirteen, she was already
working her third job. Remember,in nineteen thirteen, child labor was still
legal and would be for a couplemore decades. While it's tough now to
(30:51):
imagine widespread acceptance of child labor,it wasn't back then. It was a
normal part of life, though therumblings of social change had already begun.
You've heard me mention before the nameAsa Candler as the man who put Coca
Cola on the map. Candler isone of the legendary names in Atlanta business
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history. Asa Candler was known asa brilliant businessman, top notch innovator,
and progressive thinker, but even hesupported the institution of child employment. He
once said this, the most beautifulsite that we see is the child at
labor. As early as he mayget at labor, the more beautiful,
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the more useful does his life getto be. Now side note here In
the nineteen tens, there was afamous photographer named Lewis Hine who traveled around
and took pictures of kids working infactories, fields, and minds. It's
a fascinating, although heartbreaking era ofAmerican history. Vault subscribers, I've curated
a collection of some of those photos, so be sure to check those out
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inside the Vault. In nineteen teen, Atlanta's mini thriving industries were run by
children, and Mary Fagan was oneof them. Mary worked at the National
Pencil Factory in downtown Atlanta. Asthe name implies, they manufactured pencils,
hundreds of thousands of them every week. The company itself employed about one hundred
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and seventy people, and most ofthem were young women like Mary. A
typical work week for her would havebeen about fifty five hours. Mary's specific
role was operating a machine that attachedthe rubber eraser to the end of each
Pencil. On April twenty sixth,Mary had the day off and her heart
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was set on attending the city's bigConfederate Memorial Day parade downtown. However,
before that, she had an errandto run. She needed to swing by
the National Pencil Factory and pick upher wages for her work that week,
a meager one dollar and twenty cents. So late morning on that dreary Saturday,
Mary boarded a trolley near her homeon English Avenue and began her journey
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into the city. This was ajourney Mary never should have taken. Later
that night, in the wee morninghours of Sunday, actually, a call
came into the Atlanta Police Department.On the other end of the line was
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a black man named Newt Lee.Lee was the night watchman at the National
Pencil Factory. Though manufacturing stopped duringthe night, his job was to keep
an eye on things throughout the night, ensuring that the facility was safe from
burglars and troublemakers. When an officeranswered his call, Newt Lee spoke with
a sense of urgency. Minutes later, a handful of Atlanta police officers,
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as well as a local reporter,sped off into the quiet and lonely streets
of Atlanta. Around three thirty am, the group arrived at the National Pencil
Factory, a dark, four storystone and brick building towering over Atlanta's Forsyth
Street. The streets were empty andmostly quiet, except for the sound of
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a buzzing street lamp. When theyapproached the front door, Newt Lee was
waiting on them. He hurried theminside. Lee led the group through the
darkened hallways of the building until theycame to a wooden ladder that disappeared into
a black hole leading to the building'sbasement. Newtlee led the way, the
first one down the ladder and intothe buildings underground chambers. One by one,
(34:39):
each man followed. As they descendedbelow street level, the temperature dropped.
What the men discovered was a dankcavern, both surreal and primitive.
It was cool and moist Earthen wallsframed a narrow corridor that spread out into
(34:59):
thick blackness before them. The moisturein the air carried the commingling sense of
wet soil, wood shavings, andgraphite. Over the course of many years,
much of the refuse from the PencilFactory had been swept into grates falling
down into this rough basement area below. This urban grotto was also incredibly dark,
(35:21):
illuminated by a single source of light, one flickering gas flame over in
the corner. This was an eeriesetting, even for these seasoned investigators.
With lantern in hand, newtly ledthe men deeper into the underground corridor.
They followed, but after a fewseconds he came to a stop. There,
(35:43):
he said, stretching his lantern inthe direction of a small mound of
disturbed earth. Dancing orange light illuminatedthe unmistakable outline of a human form,
a girl lying on her side.The men now realized just how serious this
was. The body was still andlifeless, the face was marked with deep
(36:08):
purple bruises, and there was adeep gash on the back of her head.
As the men got closer to investigate, they found more clues. A
chord tightly wrapped around her neck,pulled so tight it had cut into the
flesh, leaving long, bloody striations. She'd been strangled to death. The
(36:28):
girl's tongue hung out of her mouth, and her face was smeared black with
soot, so much so that themen briefly debated whether she was a black
girl or a white girl. Momentslater, one of the officers discovered not
one, but two handwritten notes nextto Mary's body, and as the men
(36:49):
investigated the scene further, a finalhorrible detail of this young girl's last moments
came into view. Her dress hadbeen pulled up above her waist, her
undergarments had been ripped and were smearedwith blood. What was meant to be
a fun spring day had turned intoa fatal tragedy for young Mary Fagan.
(37:15):
She never even made it to theparade that day. Instead, someone beat
her, raped her, strangled her, and then dumped her body into the
dark and dank basement of the NationalPencil Factory. In those wee Sunday morning
hours, those officers knew they werelooking at an unusually wicked scene. However,
(37:37):
they could never have imagined the dramato come. They could never have
imagined the significance of that body inthat basement. They didn't know it yet,
but this was no ordinary murder,no ordinary tragedy. This was a
tragedy that would captivate a state anda nation. This was a tragedy that
(37:59):
would ever tear at the fabric ofSouthern history and this was a tragedy that
would change America forever. The restof the story is coming. That's next
time on catlic Hey Catholic Fans BThere. Thank you so much to those
(38:24):
of you who've reached out, leftreviews, and even followed Catolic on Instagram.
In case you haven't heard, we'regoing to wrap up this whole series
by episode twenty two. I hopeyou'll stick with us to the very end.
Thanks so much for the support,and of course thanks for listening.
(38:46):
Catlic is recorded in Atlanta's historic Cabbagetownneighborhood. Executive producer walnut Ridge Harmon.
Original music for this episode provided byDucy. Cover art by Rachel Eleanor Catolic
store manager Brett Harmon. Catolic InstagramFollower of the Week Hallie's Ebert Catolic Instagram
(39:15):
Story. Stars of the Week KaylaFortner, Madison Bacon, Samuel B.
Jones, Catolic Nashville Fan of theWeek Rebecca Sherman, Catolic Hater of the
Week username I spankam who says quotethis could have been a decent podcast.
(39:37):
The new narrator, Well, Ispank M. I'm sorry but you're stuck
with me sending you all the loveanyway. Special thanks to my research assistant
Jack Lindsay, and special thanks tomy comic friends Ali and Damon, who
appeared at the beginning of this episode. Be sure to follow the them on
(40:00):
Instagram. That's at Allie Edge AL L y E Edge, as well
as at Damon Junior two that's dA M O N j R. And
the Number two. Be sure togive them both a follow. Vault subscribers,
(40:20):
you can find the full funny bitwith Ali and Damon inside the Vault.
That's an extra twenty minutes of hilarityfrom my nineteen twenty six medical book,
Vitology. Can Trust Me, You'regonna love learning about the dangers of
self pollution and Finally, Catolic isindependently written and produced by me B T.
(40:45):
Harmon. Signing off, I'd liketo remind you to save old buildings,
build bike lanes, and vote forpublic transit. We'll see you in
the next episode.
All right. Next up, wehave remedies for a black eye. For
a black eye, so a coupleof steps here. Number one, immediately
after the eye has been struck,apply a cloth wet with water. Seems
simple enough, but then it saysdo not put on leeches. After that,
an application of brandy is another goodremedy. And finally, the application
(00:22):
of raw beef is another very superiormeans for removing the discoloration. Well,
listen, I will agree with this. The application of brandy is a good
remedy for most things I have foundin my life. Yeah, so that's
pretty on point. I think I'mreading from an old book printed in the
(00:45):
nineteen twenties. It's called Vitology.Eu gen xers might remember that Pearl Jam
put out an album in nineteen ninetyfour called Vitology. That album cover was
an exact copy of the cover ofthis book. These are my friends,
Ali and Damon were at my placein Cabbage Town, near downtown Atlanta.
(01:06):
When people write rules, people havedone what they said not to do.
I don't know how many leeches havebeen put on in this village, but
I do know that it was animportant nation right down for sure. I've
never been close to leeches. I'velooked at them on Google, and I'm
like, I would never I wouldnever know about my face. How do
you even find a leach? Howdo you find a leech? You know
(01:26):
what, that's a more important question. You're probably the guy who should get
punch if you're that's how you gottrying to get back to get some leeches,
and they're like, you're an idiot. This vitology book I'm reading from
is thick. It's like a thousandpages. It was like a home medical
advice book for back then, filledwith all kinds of remedies, cures,
(01:47):
and general life advice. Next up, All right, so this is a
remedy for bleedings from the stomach orvomiting of blood. That's the category remedy
number one. The patient should beconfined to the bed. Small pieces of
ice should be swallowed. Not toobad. But then it says we take
a sharp turn here. Firm pressureshould be made upon the anus with a
(02:10):
napkin under the hand, so allefforts to expel it cease. It sometimes
happens that vomiting of blood takes theplace of the minstrel flow. How Emma
let you take this. Oh,there's so many there's so many things wrong
with this. First of all,if you're vomiting blood, what does the
(02:31):
other end have anything to do withit? I don't understand. This is
a real friendship testament here, friendshiplisten. If you're listening to this,
do you have a friend that isclose enough? Would you would give them
two paper tails to pressure to Idon't. I don't have a friend.
(02:51):
My wife is close to me.That's ground. You know. It was
a good run. Let's split thekids up. I found this book at
an antique market in South Atlanta,and when I started reading it, I
realized it had lots of ridiculous stuffin it. Alien Damon are comics here
in Atlanta, and I thought it'dbe fun just to read some of these
weird medical remedies and let them comeand comment on them, all right.
(03:15):
Next up diabetes, which in parenthesesit says excessive flow of urine, So
I don't know if that was liketheir definition of dot. I don't know.
Anyways, The description says this diseaseis indicated by excessive discharges of sweet
urine of a pale yellowish or greenishyellow color. Sometimes the patient discovers that
(03:37):
it is sweetish to the taste.False. Why are we Why are we
tasting our urine? Why is that? You're like, you know what,
that doesn't look like the right color. Let me just let see if it
tastes. Yeah, sweet is howthey describe your sweet yarin sweet urin?
(03:59):
Yes, Dan, all right?This next one, it's another image.
So what we're looking at. It'sa black and white illustration. We have
two men. One of the menis wearing a suit. He's laying on
a table and what looks like adoctor's office, a therapist office. He's
laying on his back. On topof him is another man. He is
standing athwart him. His hands areout in a very victorious pose, and
(04:20):
it looks like he's surfing on theman he's standing on. His right foot
is on the man's abdomen. Hisleft foot is just below the man's thank
you, And the title is subjectsuggestive hypnotism, So we're looking at a
scene of some kind of hypnosis.One man standing atop another thoughts, there's
(04:44):
no what a suggestive hypnotism that direction. This guy is wearing a three piece
suit standing on top of another grownman. I'm like, what part of
this is hypnotism? This guy lookscalm and cool and collective, line down
like any grown man. If anygrown man tried to stand on my body,
(05:04):
I can't have it. Okay,that's how Damon and I are different.
Oh man. Looking at history's darkestand most depressing moments can wear you
out. Yeah. I get thatit's nothing compared to the people who had
(05:25):
to live them. But still,human history is filled with progress. But
the sad, shocking, and dismalstories are the ones that stick with us.
I have to admit it's easier tolook away. Still, we need
to look at them and sit withthem every generation. This is the only
way to know where we've been.Nevertheless, you've got to leave room,
(05:47):
to step away, to breathe,to come up for air, and to
laugh. That's as important as thelooking. I'm glad you're here. You're
listening to Catolic And this is episodefourteen, A Body in the Basement.
(06:49):
We ended our last episode in Octoberof nineteen twelve. Ernest Knox and Oscar
Daniel were executed for the murder ofmay Crow, publicly hanged as thou thousands
of Forsyth County residents watched and cheered. In the days after the double lynching,
the residents of Forsyth County must havebasked in the glow of justice well
(07:11):
served and their newfound sense of safety. After all, by the end of
October, Macro's Black attackers had beeneliminated and the night raiders had left every
black homestead empty. If the blackcommunity really was behind all this violence,
then surely forsythe county would be muchsafer now that they were all gone.
(07:32):
Right. Just four days after thedouble hanging, this headline popped in the
Atlanta Constitution, Page eight. Assassinswound forsythe farmer the lead D. W.
Elliott, a wealthy farmer of ForsythCounty, today lies at the point
(07:56):
of death with this skull crushed,having been assaulted by unknown person's late last
night while returning from Gainesville. Theassault occurred around ten o'clock last night as
mister Elliott was driving along a lonelysection of the road in his buggy.
The article lists the location of theattack as seven miles north of Coming.
(08:18):
You know what else's seven miles northof Coming. The rural and obscure community
of Oscarville and you may remember wholived in Oscarville, may Crow. This
guy d w Elliott was ambushed whiletraveling alone at night in the exact same
(08:39):
area where may Crow was attacked.I can only imagine what went through the
minds of the white residence of thecounty. I mean, you have to
assume their instinct was to point thefinger at the black fiends of forsythe But
one major problem with that there wereno black fiends left in forsythe County.
(09:00):
There couldn't be, because there wereno black people left in forsythe County.
For the second time in as manymonths, some homicidal maniac had emerged from
the woods to attack and bludgeon todeath some loan traveler on the dusty backroads
of Oscarville. The lynchings, thenight riders, the terror, all of
it was designed to make for scytheCounty safer in theory. Yet here they
(09:24):
were, just days after that bigdose of alleged justice had been served,
and for scythe County still has akiller on the loose. Go figure.
After this attack on dw Eliot,things calmed down and forsythe County for a
few months at least down in Atlanta, life went on as usual as fall
(09:48):
turned to winter. In late nineteentwelve, on Christmas Day, the Brunswick
News reported that a woman named MattieCarter was killed in Atlanta. The article
noted that she was a young blackwasherwoman who'd been shot in the heart and
then beaten with an axe. Herbody was left on a vacant lot on
Roger Street in the neighborhood of Kirkwood. Because of its proximity to other similar
(10:13):
murders, the article attributed her deathto the Ripper, noting that quote Jack,
the Ripper is on the war pathagain. Of course, it's tough
to know if this was a trueRipper murder, but like I've mentioned before,
reporters were quick to use the Rword to increase interest in an otherwise
random murder. About a week later, the Ripper would be mentioned yet again,
(10:39):
this time in the Atlantic Constitution.On New Year's Day of nineteen thirteen,
the Constitution ran a front page storywith a big dramatic headline, blood
flowed in a Crimson stream in yearnineteen twelve. Of course, when reading
these old articles, you have toalways be on the look out for hyperbole.
(11:01):
But in this case the headline appearsto be justified. The article recaps
the wave of murders that had sweptover the city in the year before.
The article notes that nineteen twelve hadthe most murders on record in Atlanta since
the Civil War forty seven years earlier. In nineteen twelve, there were fifty
(11:22):
five murders in the city, andthe article notes that this was considerably more
than even the city of London,with its millions of people. This is
actually a fairly good point. Innineteen twelve, the population of Atlanta was
only about one hundred and fifty thousand. At the same time, London was
a city of about seven million.That means Atlanta had more murders than another
(11:48):
city fifty times as big. Whatcaused the uptick in violence in nineteen twelve,
well, historians usually point to thecivic unrest caused by mass and gracian
and social inequality, but ultimately theystill aren't sure. What we are sure
of is that by February of nineteenthirteen, some wealthy white folks up in
(12:11):
for scythe County were ready to havetheir black laborers back. It had been
five months since the black residence ofForsyth County had been driven away. In
addition to this being a grave injusticeand a human rights catastrophe, it also
created a major labor shortage around thecounty. Crops rotted in the fields as
(12:33):
farmers struggled to find anyone to harvestthem. Local merchants raised their prices to
cover increased labor costs, and thehomes of for SCI's wealthy white citizens used
to relying upon black labor were plungedinto disarray. One such home was that
of John and Laura Hockinhall. Johnhockin Hall was a successful physician with an
(12:56):
office in downtown Coming. His wifeLaura managed the affairs of their considerable estate.
For years, they'd house several blackfamilies on their property, specifically the
Blakes, the Smiths, and theirGrahams, in exchange for free rent and
fair wages. These families kept theHawk and Hoole estate running smoothly well.
(13:18):
In the fall of nineteen twelve,these three families fled for scythe county,
just like all the others since then, the three cabins reserved for the Hawk
and Holl's hired help sat dark andabandoned by February of nineteen thirteen. Laura
Hawkin Hall was exhausted and just fedup, so she began pressuring her husband
(13:41):
to find the three black families andrecruit them back to their cabins and back
to their previous jobs as essential contributorsto their family affairs. Doctor Hock and
Hooll made a few calls and sureenough located all three families they'd been living
as refugees in a neighboring county withthe promise of bigger wages in a secure
(14:03):
living situation. His pitch was asuccess. The Blakes, Smiths, and
Grahams all agreed to return to theirlives and for scythe County, and days
later they quietly moved back into theircabins within the safe confines of the Hock
and Hoole land. All was well, but not for long. Despite their
(14:26):
efforts to be discreet, word hadgotten around for scythe County had been breached,
the new rules had been broken,and the powers that be, Yeah,
they weren't having it. In thewee morning hours of February the nineteenth,
(14:46):
the sleeping residence of Coming were joltedout of bed by the sound of
a massive explosion in the distance.The Atlantic Constitution reported that the blast was
so intense that it quote shook manybuildings. Around three am, someone had
snuck onto the Hawk and Hole propertyimplanted dynamite under the floorboards of the three
(15:07):
cabins housing the newly returned black families. Three distinct explosions were heard for miles
around. The Constitution reported that twoof the cabins were badly damaged and one
was almost completely leveled. We don'tknow the extent of the injuries of those
sleeping inside, but we can assumeit must have been awful. For all
(15:28):
their positive intentions, the Hawk andHoll's plan backfired horribly and violently. The
message was clear. For scythe Countyis a white county now forever and always
loud and clear for generations to come. And when I say generations here,
(15:52):
I mean generations. For scythe county'sracial cleansing didn't just last a year.
It didn't just last five years,not even ten or fifteen. Oh No,
as far as we can tell,for scythe County was an all white
county for about seventy five years.In the decades after the bombing of those
(16:12):
three cabins. There were scattered reportsof black residents of tempting to move into
or move back to for Scythe County, but they were met with violence almost
every time. There were rumors ofsome families possibly living on the edge of
the county in the nineteen thirties,but for all intents and purposes, for
scythe County maintained their black people banat least until the nineteen eighties. It's
(16:37):
unbelievable when you think about it.So what changed in the nineteen eighties,
Well buckle up for that story.For most of the twentieth century, for
scythe County had existed as a quiet, rural enclay far north of the growing
city of Atlanta, But by thenineteen eighties that began to change. When
(17:00):
Atlanta began experiencing white flight in thesixties and seventies, the vast majority of
those white people fleeing the city movedin the same direction north Buckhead, then
Roswell, then Alpharetta, then Miltonand beyond. Atlanta's sprawl was and still
is notorious. As the people movednorth, infrastructure followed. Huge subdivisions and
(17:23):
shopping malls were built, and ofcourse roads. Atlanta's disastrous decision to under
invest in public transit spurred the endlessconstruction of new roads, highways, and
interstates. It's why traffic suck sobad today. One of those highways built
in the seventies and eighties was GeorgiaState Route four hundred. Today we just
(17:47):
call it Highway four hundred. Highwayfour hundred runs northeast out of Atlanta,
and if you drive it today,you eventually end up in the little town
of Coming. By the nineteen eighties, Highway four hundred was a key transit
artery, offering a direct connection betweenAtlanta and for scythe county. For scythe
county, shady past could hide nomore. And so it was around nineteen
(18:11):
eighty seven when the rumblings of aprotest began to shake. Not just a
protest, but a march scheduled forthe seventy fifth anniversary of the racial cleansing
of nineteen twelve. They would callit the March for Brotherhood, and it
was designed as a peaceful march,a symbolic event that would acknowledge the county's
(18:33):
racist past and quietly but firmly advocatefor change. In nineteen eighty seven,
several of the legends of the civilrights movement were still alive and still living
in Atlanta. Joseah Williams was oneof them. Josea Williams had stood side
by side with John Lewis way backin nineteen sixty five as they marched across
(18:55):
the now infamous Edmund Pettis Bridge inSelma, Alabama. When Josiah Williams signed
on to the March for Brotherhood ofnineteen eighty seven, it drew lots of
attention from the media. He wasjust the person needed to help shine a
spotlight on the sins of forsythe county. January seventeenth, nineteen eighty seven was
(19:15):
chosen as the day of the protest. On that frigid morning, Josiah Williams
and his fellow protesters met at theKing Center in Atlanta and boarded a bus.
Within minutes, the bus was glidingnorth along the asphalt of Highway four
hundred, bound for Forsyth County.After the forty minute ride, the bus
(19:36):
of protesters reached the edges of coming. They'd planned for some resistance, but
they'd not expected this. As thebus lumbered onto Forsyth County pavement. It
was met by a howling crowd,a mob rather of more than two thousand,
five hundred white Forsyth County ds.It was a sea of counter protesters
(20:00):
shouting, jeering, and mocking.Confederate flags waved in every direction. Handmade
signs blasting expletives and racist threats werehoisted high into the air. This was
going to be drama. Surrounded bypolice, the fifty or so protesters got
off the bus and began their march. The gray haired Jose Williams led the
(20:22):
way. The protesters had been specificallytrained in Doctor King's tactics of non violence.
Stay close, don't react, don'trespond, stay on mission. The
group kept marching forward through a hostilecorridor of angry counter protesters lining both sides
(20:44):
of Bethelview Road, and within secondsobjects began to fly, first a rock
than a beer bottle, but asthe crowd grew more bold, they reached
for anything they could find. Sticks, rocks, bottles, and cans rained
down on the marchers as they attemptedto make their way to the Versyth County
Courthouse. As the group marched,they were protected by local police. On
(21:08):
all sects. It's easy to seethis scene and think of the six black
prisoners being escorted through the streets ofComing seventy five years ago, armed guards
on all sides. The same shoutingand jeering now coming from the direct descendants
of those who've done the same severalgenerations before. After a few minutes,
(21:29):
local police could sense the escalation amidstthe screams, they pulled the protester organizers
in for a quick update, basicallysaying, guys, we can no longer
guarantee your safety. We advise youto get back on that bus immediately.
Though hesitant to call the march offso quickly, they agreed and got back
on the bus. As the doorclosed and the bus pulled away, the
(21:55):
crowd led out a massive victory cheer. They'd won shround at least that initial
Brotherhood march caught the eye of severalmedia outlets, including The New York Times.
They ran a story on the marchfor Brotherhood with some key quotes from
Joseo. Williams himself. One quotein particular makes it clear just how tense
(22:17):
it was that day. Here's aquote from Williams. I have never seen
such hatred I've been in the civilrights movement thirty years and I'm telling you
we've got a South Africa in thebackyard of Atlanta. There were youngsters ten
and twelve years old screaming their lungsout kill the inn word. I've been
in many situations, but never onethat was any worse. Though the first
(22:42):
Brotherhood March fizzled, the second wouldflourish. Organizers in Atlanta quickly began planning
a return trip to Forsyth, onlythis time they would not be outnumbered.
The second march was planned exactly oneweek after the first one. On the
morning of January twenty fourth, protestersin Atlanta boarded not one, but two
(23:06):
hundred charter buses. That fleet ofbuses, along with lots of others in
cars, formed a massive convoy rollingnorth on Highway four hundred. This time,
Joseah Williams would be joined by othericons of the civil rights movement,
including John Lewis, Joseph Lowery,and even CORRETTA. Scott King. US
(23:26):
senators, local dignitaries, and ahandful of celebrities joined the march as well.
When the caravan arrived in coming,the media was ready. Local,
national, and international news outlets swarmedthe area news. Helicopters hovered overhead,
and of course OPRAH was in town. When they arrived, twenty thousand protesters
(23:49):
got off the buses and began filinginto the streets of forsythe County. This
time they were met by a crowdof about fifteen hundred counter protesters, a
bit smaller but just as angry asbefore. Author Patrick Phillips notes that a
massive team of law enforcement kept thepeace that day. This included three hundred
(24:10):
and fifty State troopers, one hundredand eighty five agents with the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation, and two thousand soldierswith the Georgia National Guard. The second
march, though tense, went offmuch more smoothly than the first. The
massive delusion protesters overwhelmed the racist chantsand actions of the all white counter protesters.
(24:33):
This time, the marchers ended onthe steps of the forsythe County court
House, where civil rights legend JosephLowry spoke, reminding the locals quote,
we did not come to forsythe Countyto scare you to death. We came
to challenge you to live a lifeof decency. In the days after the
(24:53):
Second Brotherhood March. There were severalattempts to help for scythe county address their
racial issues. Demands were made committeesreform, but within months it all fizzled
out. Three years after the march, in nineteen ninety, the US Census
tallied exactly fourteen black citizens living inForsyth County. The countywide population that year
(25:18):
was around forty four thousand. That'sfourteen out of forty four thousand. In
the nineties for scythe counties population swelledwith newcomers, Some move for new economic
opportunities, and others moved there toescape the crime, sprawl or traffic of
Atlanta. Either way, the twothousand census counted around one hundred thousand residents
(25:40):
of Forsyth County, with six hundredand eighty four of them being African American,
a considerable increase from nineteen ninety,but still only point seven percent of
the county's total population. So whatis Forsyth County like today? Well,
a lot has changed, but somehasn't. I've spent some time there in
(26:03):
recent months on a quiet little missionto discover whether or not the county has
owned up to its dark history.I'll talk a lot more about that in
the later episode. Okay, let'sget back to our story. Those three
black families were driven out of theircabins in February of nineteen thirteen. That
would be month twenty six of ourstory. Remember, Catlic covers fifty six
(26:29):
months of unbelievable events that happened inAtlanta, and we're looking at four big
stories that happened within those fifty sixmonths. The first story was that of
the Atlanta Ripper, the second wasthe racial purge of Forsyth County, and
the third, well fit starts rightnow. Little Marie and began day wind
(26:57):
the bento back three to get ourlittle paid. We left our home at
thevon we hit our mother goodbye,not one time in the bordchild thing that
he was going to die. It'sApril of nineteen thirteen, month number twenty
eight of our story. On Saturday, April twenty sixth, the morning edition
(27:21):
of the Atlantic Constitution rolled off thepresses and into the eager hands of Atlantin's
On this day in the South's grandcity, most were hoping for warm spring
sun. However, no such luck. That day's weather prophecy called for overcast
skies with a chance of rain.The big news that day on the front
page was about Italian opera star EnricoCaruso performing at the Grand Opera House in
(27:47):
downtown Atlanta. However, the otherbig news of the day was about the
Confederate Memorial Day parade scheduled for thatafternoon in downtown Atlanta. In eighteen seventy
four, the Georgia General Assembly establishedApril twenty sixth as Confederate Memorial Day,
an official state holiday for remembering andmemorializing those who'd fought in the South's failed
(28:11):
attempt to secede from America. Soby nineteen thirteen, this well established tradition
had been around for about thirty nineyears. The Atlantic Constitution published details of
the parade, promising that it wouldbe quote one of the finest and most
splendid pageants ever seen in Atlanta onany similar occasion. The paper also posted
(28:36):
the order of the parade lineup.It included platoons of mounted police, the
Grand Marshal, the Governor, theboy Scouts, the Oddfellows, the Governor's
horse guard, and finally, theever revered veterans of the Confederacy, many
of them now stooped over gray hairedmen in their geriatric years. The parade
(28:56):
would begin at two PM and weaveits way down Peachtree Street, Atlanta's famous
thoroughfare of storefronts, stately mansions,and glitsee high rises. That same morning,
thirteen year old Mary Fagin was finalizingher plans to attend the Confederate Memorial
Day parade. Mary was thirteen yearsold. She had fair skin and caught
(29:18):
the eye of all the boys herage. She was very pretty. Mary
Fagin lived northwest of downtown Atlanta ina small community called Bellwood. Now,
Billwood was not a fancy area.It was a working class neighborhood home to
lots of poor, white families who'dmoved to Atlanta in search of jobs in
(29:41):
eighteen ninety nine. Mary was bornin Alabama, but her father died shortly
before she was born. Struggling tosupport their family, Mary's mom moved the
family to Georgia. After a briefstint in the town of Marietta, the
family finally landed in Bellwood, justa bit northwest of downtown Atlanta. Mary's
mom got remarried, and they wereone of the countless families in Atlanta who'd
(30:04):
relocated there from outlying rural farming communities. These families comprised the white working class
of Atlanta, and it was thesefamilies that staffed the city's fast growing factories
in the early nineteen hundreds. Now, the whites of Atlanta's high society often
looked down on these people, andit was during this era of American life
(30:25):
when the term cracker was coined,a derogatory slur used to insult the South's
lower class whites. It could besaid that Mary Fagan came from a family
of crackers. After all, bythe age of thirteen, she was already
working her third job. Remember,in nineteen thirteen, child labor was still
legal and would be for a couplemore decades. While it's tough now to
(30:51):
imagine widespread acceptance of child labor,it wasn't back then. It was a
normal part of life, though therumblings of social change had already begun.
You've heard me mention before the nameAsa Candler as the man who put Coca
Cola on the map. Candler isone of the legendary names in Atlanta business
(31:11):
history. Asa Candler was known asa brilliant businessman, top notch innovator,
and progressive thinker, but even hesupported the institution of child employment. He
once said this, the most beautifulsite that we see is the child at
labor. As early as he mayget at labor, the more beautiful,
(31:33):
the more useful does his life getto be. Now side note here In
the nineteen tens, there was afamous photographer named Lewis Hine who traveled around
and took pictures of kids working infactories, fields, and minds. It's
a fascinating, although heartbreaking era ofAmerican history. Vault subscribers, I've curated
a collection of some of those photos, so be sure to check those out
(31:56):
inside the Vault. In nineteen teen, Atlanta's mini thriving industries were run by
children, and Mary Fagan was oneof them. Mary worked at the National
Pencil Factory in downtown Atlanta. Asthe name implies, they manufactured pencils,
hundreds of thousands of them every week. The company itself employed about one hundred
(32:19):
and seventy people, and most ofthem were young women like Mary. A
typical work week for her would havebeen about fifty five hours. Mary's specific
role was operating a machine that attachedthe rubber eraser to the end of each
Pencil. On April twenty sixth,Mary had the day off and her heart
(32:43):
was set on attending the city's bigConfederate Memorial Day parade downtown. However,
before that, she had an errandto run. She needed to swing by
the National Pencil Factory and pick upher wages for her work that week,
a meager one dollar and twenty cents. So late morning on that dreary Saturday,
Mary boarded a trolley near her homeon English Avenue and began her journey
(33:07):
into the city. This was ajourney Mary never should have taken. Later
that night, in the wee morninghours of Sunday, actually, a call
came into the Atlanta Police Department.On the other end of the line was
(33:29):
a black man named Newt Lee.Lee was the night watchman at the National
Pencil Factory. Though manufacturing stopped duringthe night, his job was to keep
an eye on things throughout the night, ensuring that the facility was safe from
burglars and troublemakers. When an officeranswered his call, Newt Lee spoke with
a sense of urgency. Minutes later, a handful of Atlanta police officers,
(33:52):
as well as a local reporter,sped off into the quiet and lonely streets
of Atlanta. Around three thirty am, the group arrived at the National Pencil
Factory, a dark, four storystone and brick building towering over Atlanta's Forsyth
Street. The streets were empty andmostly quiet, except for the sound of
(34:14):
a buzzing street lamp. When theyapproached the front door, Newt Lee was
waiting on them. He hurried theminside. Lee led the group through the
darkened hallways of the building until theycame to a wooden ladder that disappeared into
a black hole leading to the building'sbasement. Newtlee led the way, the
first one down the ladder and intothe buildings underground chambers. One by one,
(34:39):
each man followed. As they descendedbelow street level, the temperature dropped.
What the men discovered was a dankcavern, both surreal and primitive.
It was cool and moist Earthen wallsframed a narrow corridor that spread out into
(34:59):
thick blackness before them. The moisturein the air carried the commingling sense of
wet soil, wood shavings, andgraphite. Over the course of many years,
much of the refuse from the PencilFactory had been swept into grates falling
down into this rough basement area below. This urban grotto was also incredibly dark,
(35:21):
illuminated by a single source of light, one flickering gas flame over in
the corner. This was an eeriesetting, even for these seasoned investigators.
With lantern in hand, newtly ledthe men deeper into the underground corridor.
They followed, but after a fewseconds he came to a stop. There,
(35:43):
he said, stretching his lantern inthe direction of a small mound of
disturbed earth. Dancing orange light illuminatedthe unmistakable outline of a human form,
a girl lying on her side.The men now realized just how serious this
was. The body was still andlifeless, the face was marked with deep
(36:08):
purple bruises, and there was adeep gash on the back of her head.
As the men got closer to investigate, they found more clues. A
chord tightly wrapped around her neck,pulled so tight it had cut into the
flesh, leaving long, bloody striations. She'd been strangled to death. The
(36:28):
girl's tongue hung out of her mouth, and her face was smeared black with
soot, so much so that themen briefly debated whether she was a black
girl or a white girl. Momentslater, one of the officers discovered not
one, but two handwritten notes nextto Mary's body, and as the men
(36:49):
investigated the scene further, a finalhorrible detail of this young girl's last moments
came into view. Her dress hadbeen pulled up above her waist, her
undergarments had been ripped and were smearedwith blood. What was meant to be
a fun spring day had turned intoa fatal tragedy for young Mary Fagan.
(37:15):
She never even made it to theparade that day. Instead, someone beat
her, raped her, strangled her, and then dumped her body into the
dark and dank basement of the NationalPencil Factory. In those wee Sunday morning
hours, those officers knew they werelooking at an unusually wicked scene. However,
(37:37):
they could never have imagined the dramato come. They could never have
imagined the significance of that body inthat basement. They didn't know it yet,
but this was no ordinary murder,no ordinary tragedy. This was a
tragedy that would captivate a state anda nation. This was a tragedy that
(37:59):
would ever tear at the fabric ofSouthern history and this was a tragedy that
would change America forever. The restof the story is coming. That's next
time on catlic Hey Catholic Fans BThere. Thank you so much to those
(38:24):
of you who've reached out, leftreviews, and even followed Catolic on Instagram.
In case you haven't heard, we'regoing to wrap up this whole series
by episode twenty two. I hopeyou'll stick with us to the very end.
Thanks so much for the support,and of course thanks for listening.
(38:46):
Catlic is recorded in Atlanta's historic Cabbagetownneighborhood. Executive producer walnut Ridge Harmon.
Original music for this episode provided byDucy. Cover art by Rachel Eleanor Catolic
store manager Brett Harmon. Catolic InstagramFollower of the Week Hallie's Ebert Catolic Instagram
(39:15):
Story. Stars of the Week KaylaFortner, Madison Bacon, Samuel B.
Jones, Catolic Nashville Fan of theWeek Rebecca Sherman, Catolic Hater of the
Week username I spankam who says quotethis could have been a decent podcast.
(39:37):
The new narrator, Well, Ispank M. I'm sorry but you're stuck
with me sending you all the loveanyway. Special thanks to my research assistant
Jack Lindsay, and special thanks tomy comic friends Ali and Damon, who
appeared at the beginning of this episode. Be sure to follow the them on
(40:00):
Instagram. That's at Allie Edge AL L y E Edge, as well
as at Damon Junior two that's dA M O N j R. And
the Number two. Be sure togive them both a follow. Vault subscribers,
(40:20):
you can find the full funny bitwith Ali and Damon inside the Vault.
That's an extra twenty minutes of hilarityfrom my nineteen twenty six medical book,
Vitology. Can Trust Me, You'regonna love learning about the dangers of
self pollution and Finally, Catolic isindependently written and produced by me B T.
(40:45):
Harmon. Signing off, I'd liketo remind you to save old buildings,
build bike lanes, and vote forpublic transit. We'll see you in
the next episode.
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