Episode 26: The murder of Mary Phagan

On Sunday, April 27, 1913 just a little after 3 a.m., an African American night watchman named Newt Lee was making his rounds. After feeling a call to nature, he went into the basement to use the negro restroom. Keep in mind that during this time, Negroes and whites had separate restrooms and drinking fountains. It was a time when segregation and racism were considered normal.

Lee would find the deceased body of a 13-year-old teenager named Mary Phagan. Someone had assaulted, robbed and killed the young girl. This case would become one of the most sensational cases in the history of Atlanta. It involved anti-semitism, violence, vigilante justice, and a horrific ending for the alleged killer. Today the case is still discussed and it's believed that an innocent man paid the ultimate price for a crime he likely didn't commit.

Please be sure to visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by subscribing to my true crime Patreon page. You will receive an extra podcast episode per month (true crime, paranormal or a combination of both.) To subscribe, please visit my Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/catchmykiller.

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Any act of hate. Really,the lesson should be why, why did
we do that? And how dowe want to make sure that never never
happens again. His face, hiseyes are old sketches. His name is
a headline. Leo Frank is arelic of the past that still looms over

(00:26):
the future. Leo Frank lynching certainlyshaped our city, it shaped our region,
and it frankly reshaped the nation.The story of Leo Frank begins two
years earlier, in nineteen thirteen,with the story of Mary Fagin. At
age ten, she left school towork. At age thirteen, at her
workplace, she was found dead.This is a young woman who had a

(00:49):
very hard life, and to bemurdered in such a brutal way really captivated
the nation. Suspicions soon fell onFrank, the superintendent of the factory where
Fagin was found. Frank's trial quicklybecame about more than law. You have
the southern white, thirteen year oldgirl who is murdered at the hands of

(01:11):
what becomes this stereotypical evil northern foreigner. He was the ultimate New York to
living in the South, and thatbrawled out for a lot of anti Semitism
that lay beneath the surfaceness south.The police work was shoddy. They're just
a whole host of things that wouldlead most scholars and lawyers to conclude that

(01:36):
the outcome was not legitimate. Theoutcome was guilty. To this day,
it remains up for debate what happenednext. Does not that a mob could
go into a prison not be stopped, grab an inmate, bring them back
to Atlanta. Outside on a sunnyday in Marietta, Leo Frank was killed,

(01:59):
people would show, they bring children. No one's covering their face,
No one is ashamed to be partof this. They want to be seen.
These were prominent citizens of Mariatta,and none of them were ever brought
to justice. He is the onlyJew that ever been lynched, and it
was really the low point for theAmerican Jewish community. The relics become real

(02:22):
when we see their ripples. Soonafter Frank's lynching, the two year old
Anti Defamation League catapults into a nationalforce against hate, and on Stone Mountain,
the ku Klux Klan rallies and reformson homage to the Knights of Mary
Fagan. Both the ADL and KKKexist today. Many white sperimens toill have
that actually etched as a tattoo.The White Spwermous movement sees Leo Frank as

(02:46):
a win for them today. Eventoday, Today's Atlanta holds more than one
hundred thousand Jewish residents and far feweracts of anti Semitism. Starting Monday,
the Southern Museum in Kenneth Saw opensan exhibit in Leo Frank's name, mere
miles from his death. The questionalways remains how far have we come?

(03:08):
But the lessons of Leo Frank stillshine. One hundred years later, we
are just two much shy of ninepeople in Charleston being murdered for being African
Americans. There are still plenty ofgroups that are facing patriot and discrimination.
We have to continue to fight tomake our society a better place. Hello,

(04:11):
this is Mark. Welcome to anotherepisode of the Mark Coop. Before
I start this week's episode, Iwanted to mention that I have a Patreon
account for those of you who wantto help support my podcast. If you
subscribe, you will receive an extrapodcast episode every month. Your patronage will
help support the costs associated with providinga quality podcast. So on with this

(04:32):
week's true crime episode. But beforeI get started, I wanted to recommend
a book by author are Berry Flowers. It's titled Murder Chronicles, a collection
of chilling true crime tales. Ialso wanted to refer to a great historical
website titled Leo Frank dot Org.Both resources provided most of the details I

(04:53):
used in my research for this story. I will provide the links in the
story notes if you would like toknow more about these resources. This week,
I have a classic true crime storythat is still considered one of the
most disturbing and controversial murder cases inGeorge's history. This case involved anti semitism,
vigilante justice, questionable police work,and the possible killing of an innocent

(05:16):
man. This case goes all theway back to nineteen thirteen in a dark
and grimy factory in Atlanta called theNational Pencil Company. When I was a
teenager, I needed to make money, so I did what millions of other
teenagers have done. I got ajob in a fast food restaurant for minimum
age. I flipped burgers at alocal Wendy's restaurant. Yes, the pay

(05:39):
was terrible, and so is thework. Thankfully, I only worked a
few hours per week for extra spendingmoney. Of course, I probably would
have felt differently if I was forcedto quit school. I did in necessity
and had to work their sixty hoursper week. Most of us cannot even
imagine such a situation, but thenwe know in the back of our minds
there were laws that prevent children fromworking long hours in a factory or even

(06:02):
a restaurant. Actually, children cannoteven work today. So thankfully America has
evolved and we now realize that childrenbelong in school receiving a quality education.
However, before nineteen thirty eight,it was a different world. Instead of
attending school, many kids work longhours and hot factories alongside adults. As

(06:25):
someone who has worked in factories,I will tell you factory work is not
easy. The work is physically challengedin the conditions are sometimes miserable. But
during the late eighteen hundreds into theearly nineteen hundreds, it wasn't unusual for
a thirteen year old teenager to worksixty hours per week for meager wages.
But this changed when the Fair LaborStandards Act of nineteen thirty eight went into

(06:48):
effect. This law is what wenow know as child labor laws. The
Act was created to make sure thatyoung people who could legally find a job
worked in a safe environment that didn'tjeopardize their health or prevent them from completing
school. Unfortunately, these laws weren'tin effect in nineteen thirteen. Had they

(07:09):
been, a teenager named Mary Faganmight have lived longer than thirteen years.
Today's true crime classic takes place atthe National Pencil Company that once stood in
Atlanta, Georgia. Here are somebackground information about this case. If you
would like to know more about thefactory, I would suggest that you visit
the Leo Frank dot org website.The National Pencil Company came into existence on

(07:32):
April the eighth, nineteen o eight. It was a Jewish owned manufacturing aggregate
and a four story building located onthirty seven to forty one South Forts Street
in the heart of Atlanta. Beforebecoming a pencil factory, the site was
previously the Venable Hotel and the GraniteHotel. The factory once employed more than
one hundred and seventy employees. Mostof them were girls who were preteens and

(07:56):
teenagers. They typically worked five anda half days per week. Eachift ran
ten hours in Atlanta. Children fromages eight to ten could work in factories
at the National Pencil Company. Mostof the employees were between eleven to sixteen
years old. The company had threesubsidiaries, the slat Woodmill, the bell
Led smelting plant, and it alsohoused their headquarters. On Sunday, April

(08:18):
twenty seventh, nineteen thirteen, itwas just a little bit after three am
when a black night watchman named NewtLee was making his rounds. After feeling
a call to nature, Lee wentinto the basement to use the blacks only
restroom. Now keep in mind thatduring this time, blacks and whites had
separate restrooms and drinking fountains. Itwas a time when segregation and racism were

(08:43):
considered normal. While headed to thecommode, Lee saw something unusual lying on
the ground. Upon taking a closerlook, he realized it was the body
of a dead girl. After locatinga phone, Lee called the police.
They met him at the front entry. Lee led the officers to the basement.
It was two hundred feet long onan earthen floor. The floor was

(09:05):
covered with trash, coal, dust, and an assortment of other nasty filth.
The dead girl's body lay near theincinerator. There was also an elevator
shaft about one hundred and thirty sixfeet away. The dead girl was face
down. Her body was severely beaten. She had bruises, cuts in suit
on her face. She also haddirt and her eyes and her hair.

(09:28):
Her clothing was torn and her dresswas pulled up to her waist. It
appeared that someone may have sexually assaultedher. Whoever killed the young girl was
a sadistic brute. She also hadan undergarment and long cord wrapped around her
neck. The killer obviously wanted tomake sure that she was dead. The
police also found two notes near thebody. The notes were illegible and difficult

(09:50):
to understand. One note stated hesaid he would love me laying down play
like the night, which did it? But that long ta a black negro
did boy his slap. The secondnote said, man that negro hired down
here did this? I went tomake water and he pushed me down that
hole A long tall negro black thatwho it weighs long sleem tall Negro,

(10:15):
I write while play with me.When I first read this, I had
no idea what those notes meant,and at the time the police unsuccessfully tried
to figure out the cryptic notes,they didn't make any sense. Perhaps the
notes were meant to contaminate the murderscene. The police also noticed that someone
had used a sliding door by theservice ramp in the basement that led to

(10:35):
the alley. The door could beopened without being unlocked. The police also
found bloody fingerprints on the door anda metal pipe laying on the dead girl's
jacket. The police will also finda really strange clue in their investigation.
Inside the elevator shaft was a pileof human feces. The next time the
elevator came down, it smashed thefeces into the ground. So one would

(10:58):
ask did the kill relieve himself afterkilling the teenager or possibly before, or
had someone left the feces there whowasn't even associated with this case. The
police found a coworker to identify thedead girl, who recognized her immediately.
The dead girl was thirteen year oldMary Fagan. It was also noted that
Mary's purse and her paycheck were gone. So who was Mary Fagan and how

(11:24):
did she end up face down ona grimy basement floor. Mary Fagan was
born in Marietta, Georgia on Junefirst eighteen ninety nine. Her parents were
tenant farmers John and Francis Fagan.John Fagan had contracted the measles and soon
died. Afterward, the family relocatedto East Point, Georgia. Francis found
work operating a boarding house, andthen Mary had to quit school at ten

(11:48):
and take a job in a textilemill. In nineteen eleven, she worked
for a paper manufacturer. Afterward,Francis Fagan got remarried. She married a
man named John William Coleman, whowould become Mary's stepfather. In nineteen twelve,
Mary got a job as a machineoperator working for the National Pencil Company.

(12:09):
Her job was to put the rubberracers into the metal casings on the
pencil. Probably not the most excitingjob in the world, but it paid.
At the factory, Mary worked longhours. She worked fifty five hours
per week and earned four dollars andfive cents per week. Unfortunately, she
didn't have much of a childhood.It was almost as if she was born

(12:30):
with a job application in her hand. But those were the signs of the
times. No one thought anything unusualabout a child working nearly sixty hours per
week in a grimy factory. Thepolice began to speak to witnesses and searching
for clues to find out who hadmurdered Mary Fagin. And this is what
the investigation uncovered. It was Saturdaymorning on April to twenty sixth, nineteen

(12:54):
thirteen. Thirteen year old Mary Faganhad been temporarily laid off from her position
earlier in the week. Since thefactory was schrum brass sheet metal, there
was no work for her. Shewould have to wait for more sheet metal
to arrive before she could go backto work. She had taken a trolley
from East Point to Atlanta to collecther last paycheck. It was for the

(13:15):
twelve hours she had worked. Shewas pretty excited because she had a busy
day planned. She was going tomeet with her friends to celebrate Confederate Memorial
Day. It was a holiday thatstarted in eighteen sixty six and celebrated the
Confederate soldiers who fought in the CivilWar. Today, in some Southern states,
the holiday is still celebrated. Sometimearound noon, Mary arrived at the

(13:37):
factory. She entered through the frontdoor and made her way to Leo Frank,
the plant's superintendent. She went toFrank to get her paycheck. Frank
said that he gave Mary her paycheckand it was for a dollar twenty.
She then left his office and hesaid that he didn't see her again.
But authorities would rule that Leo Frankwas the last person to see the teenager

(13:58):
alive. The crime quickly became amedia sensation. Local papers focused on the
story. Atlanta residents were enraged whowould murder an innocent thirteen year old child.
The locals hounded the police and localpoliticians about the murder. The public
demanded that her killer be captured.Since Leo Frank was the last person to

(14:20):
see the deceased, the police hadto give him a serious look as the
potential killer. So who was LeoFrank? He was a twenty nine year
old Jewish American who was born inQuero, Texas, on April the seventeenth,
eighteen eighty four. His parents wereRudolph and Ray Frank. The family
had left Texas and moved to Brooklyn, New York. He attended high school

(14:41):
at Pratt Institute and graduated in nineteeno two. He would then attend college
at Cornell University. He studied mechanicalengineering and graduated with his bachelor's degree In
nineteen o six, he spent sixmonths as a draftsman for a company in
Hyde Park, Massachusetts. His nextposition was in New York at the National
Company as a testing engineer. Heremained there until October nineteen o seven.

(15:05):
In December nineteen oh seven, hespent a nine month apprenticeship in Germany working
for Germany's ever heard Favor Pencil Company, and this would be where he would
learn the skills that landed him hisnext position. In nineteen o eight,
he moved to Atlanta to take aposition at the National Pencil Company. In
Atlanta, he met Lucille see Lake, who would become his wife in November

(15:26):
nineteen ten. She was also Jewishand came from a prominent family. Her
family founded Atlanta's first synagogue. TheFranks lived a good life. They attended
operas, and they played bridge andLeo Frank didn't look like a killer.
He was five foot six, thinand frail. He also wore glasses that

(15:46):
completed his unassuming appearance. For fiveyears he was a supervisor for the National
Pencil Company. He didn't have anyknown issues and was a good employee.
He certainly didn't do anything to indicatehe was a killer, but anti Semitism
would become rampant throughout Atlanta and soonchanged Frank's life for the worst. After
Mary's murder, the police would alsoquestion Newt Lee, the black night watchman

(16:11):
who found the dead girl's body.The police were suspicious of him, and
they arrested him on Sunday, Aprilthe twenty seventh. In addition to Lead,
the police also arrested three other men. One was Arthur Mullanax, the
former street car driver who usually droveMary to working back. A witness claimed
to have seen Mulanax with Mary Faginon the Saturday that she went to the

(16:33):
factory. The witness said that Mulonaxlooked like he was high on drugs or
that he was in some kind ofa strange days, but seeing Mulonax with
Mary was probably not unusual, ashe was the one who usually provided her
transportation. Another suspect was John Gant, the former bookkeeper for the National Pencil
Company. He had expressed an attractionto Mary, which made him a suspect.

(16:56):
The police arrested him and Maryetta Georgia. The fourth suspect was an unidentified
black man local at Land of Papers, offered more than two thousand dollars to
anyone who could provide information leading tothe capture of Mary Fagin's killer. At
this time in history, racial tensionwas really high. Once the public learned
that Newt Lee, a black man, was under suspicion for killing a white

(17:18):
teenager, the public was enraged.The police eventually had to break up a
large white mob that had gathered tohang Newt Lee. Although the public knew
Lee was a potential suspect, theydidn't know that Leo Frank was also under
heavy suspicion. Frank's name hadn't capturedthe media's attention at the time, but
this would soon change. After Leefound Mary's body, he said that he

(17:41):
tried to call Frank for several minutes, but Frank never answered the phone.
On April to twenty seventh, thepolice knocked on Frank's door. They said
that he appeared nervous and he beganto shake when the police questioned him.
They took him to the P.J. Bloomfield Mortuary to see Mary Fagin
and his dead body. I'm notsure why they did this, but perhaps

(18:03):
it was to see how he wouldreact to seeing her corpse. Frank said
that he didn't kill Mary because heremained in his office for about twenty minutes
after she had left. And afterMary left, he said that another woman
stopped by to get her check.But her statement would differ from Frank's.
She said that when she arrived hewasn't in his office. She waited for

(18:23):
a few minutes, and then sheended up leaving without her check. So
there was an inconsistency between these twostories. Although the police listened to Frank's
story, they didn't believe him.They were beginning to think that he had
killed Mary Fagin. Frank hired PinkertonDetectives to help police in their investigation.

(18:44):
Basically, Pinkerton was the FBI.Before the FBI, they were a private
company that investigated crimes and assisted lawenforcement in capturing criminals. Mary Fagin was
laid to rest on April the twentynine. She was buried in married Atta,
Georgia. Although the police had suspectedNewtly of killing Mary Fagin, they
switched their focus to Leo Frank.The police arrested him at his office and

(19:08):
charged him with Mary Fagin's murder.The Atlantic Georgian's headline read, police have
the strangler. Of course, thisheadline did neither Lee nor Frank any favors.
The public read the headline and assumedthat the police had captured the real
killer. Both Leo, Frank,and Neutly claimed their innocence. Frank even
said that he thought Lee possibly killedMary Fagin. The only possible evidence leading

(19:33):
to Lee as a suspect was thatone of his shirts had blood stains near
the armpits. The shirt didn't lookworn, and Lee said the blood was
his. It came from an injurythat he had suffered. During the trial,
the prosecutor said that Frank plainted theshirt to frame Newt Lee for killing
Mary Fagin. An inquest into themurder occurred on April the thirtieth. George
Epps was thirteen. He was afriend and co worker of Mary's. Young

(19:56):
Epps testified that Mary was afraid ofFrank. Epps claimed that Mary told him
that Frank had made unwanted sexual advancestowards her. Newt Lee then testified that
Frank acted really strange on the daythat Mary was murdered. He said that
Frank had called him and asked himto check around the factory for anything unusual.
But Lee said that the call wasreally strange because Frank had never called

(20:19):
him about anything in the past.But two other employees denied Lee's claims.
They said Frank appeared normal to themon the day that Mary died. On
May the first, the suspect listdwindled down to two people, Leo Frank
and Newt Lee. Both of themremained in police custody. All of their
suspects were cleared. Meanwhile, thepolice arrested another suspect. The third suspect

(20:44):
and custody was a man named JimConley, who had been a janitor at
the National Pencil Company since nineteen eleven. He was a light skinned black man
who was short and stocky. Hecame under police radar after another security guard
named Ef Holloway saw Conley scrubbing ared subs from a blue shirt. Holloway
said that when Conley saw him,he tried to hide the shirt. Connley

(21:04):
said that the red stain was nothingbut rusted from an overhead pipe. The
police obtained the shirt and examined itfor blood. After some testing, they
determined that it wasn't blood and returnedthe shirt to Conley. Additionally, Frank
and Lee both gave interviews to theAtlantic Constitution and proclaimed their innocence. Frank

(21:25):
felt confident that he would be exoneratedand that the real killer would be captured.
Authorities continued to believe that Frank wasthe killer. On May to fifth,
a plantforman said that he saw Frankon the day of the murderer and
then he seemed normal, but thepolice discounted the statement. They claimed that
Frank had bribed him, which theforeman denied. By now, it has

(21:45):
to seem like the police refused tobelieve anything that excluded Frank as the killer.
There were witnesses who claimed to haveseen Marry on drugs at the Confederate
Memorial Day parade, but this wasunlikely because she had never made it to
the celebration. To investigate the claimof Marry on drugs, the police exhumed
Mary's body twice and they would lookfor additional evidence. She was checked for

(22:08):
drugs and she was checked for fingerprints, but nothing was ever found. The
wife of a mechanic said that shesaw a black man on the elevator around
one pm on the day that Marywas last seen. The police discounted the
mechanic's wife they felt the testimony wasgiven to throw suspicion off Leo Frank.
On May eighth, Frank and Leewere held by a coroner's jury. Several

(22:33):
female employees claimed that Frank often madesexual advances towards them. The next day,
a fourteen year old girl in namedMontine Stove Were testified that she was
at the factory on the day Marydisappeared and around the time that Mary had
come in to get her check.She didn't see Frank in his office around
the estimated time when Mary had arrived. This contradicted Frank's statement about being at

(22:56):
his office when Mary had arrived toget her check. Another witness said that
she was walking past the building andheard screaming coming from the basement around four
thirty pm. On May the twelfth, Leo Frank's mother, missus Rudolph Frank,
told the Atlantic Constitution that her sonwas innocent and she thought that he
would be found innocent of any murdercharges. On May sixteenth, Jim Conley

(23:21):
gave one of many different stories abouthis whereabouts on the day Mary Fagin died.
He said, on the day ofher murder, he had left his
house around ten thirty am, andthen went to a few bars. He
said he did some drinking, shotsome dice, spot some more alcohol,
and then went home and got drunk. He claimed to have stayed at home
for the rest of the day.The police were skeptical because a witness reported

(23:42):
seeing a black man wearing dark clothingand a hat near the lobby the National
Pencil Company, and when the crimehappened, the police thought that there was
a possibility that the man seen wasJim Conley. Conley admitted to running the
two notes that were found next toMary's body. He called them murder notes.
He blamed the crime on Leo Frank. And here's what Connley said.

(24:07):
On Friday, April to twenty fifth, before Mary's murder. He said that
Frank asked for him to stop byhis office. Conley claimed that Frank told
him to write the notes. Supposedly, Frank said he had wealthy people in
Brooklyn, so why should he hang. Conley probably didn't know what this meant,
but one ahead wrote the notes anyway. The police believed Conley had written

(24:30):
the two notes, but they weresurprised that he had mentioned Frank's name.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted LeoFrank for the murder of Mary Fagin.
The problem was that the grand jurywas never told about how Conley confessed to
writing the murder notes. This couldhave either exonerated Frank or made Connolly an

(24:51):
accomplice. The grand jury didn't indictNewtly because they believed that Frank had killed
Mary Fagin. The grand jury nevereven heard any testimony from Jim Conley.
Another issue that came up about themurder was the motive. The mortician who
involved Mary thought that Mary was raped, while the county doctor said he didn't
see any evidence of a rape.On May to twenty eighth, Connley told

(25:12):
authorities that he had lied about meetingwith Frank and writing the notes. He
was now claiming that he had metFrank outside the factory before one pm on
the day Mary was killed. Hesaid they went into the factory together,
where Frank gave him cigarettes and toldhim to write the notes. He said
that he wrote them as ordered,gave them to Frank, and then Frank

(25:32):
then told him to leave. Connleyclaimed that he went out to see a
movie and do some drinking. Hesaid that he didn't know about Mary Fagin's
death until he returned to work onMonday. The police seemed to believe this
version of Connolly's story. Again,they were so focused on Frank they didn't
want to pursue any other suspects.But this story didn't fit with comments made

(25:53):
by three other co workers in aninterview with the Atlanta Journal. These three
co workers blamed killing on Conley andnot Frank. They said that Conley had
followed another employee into the factory onthat Saturday to rob someone. The police
discounted this story as they continued tofocus on charging Frank. The police had

(26:14):
other concerns. They came up withan idea to interview Frank and Conley together
in the same room, but Frankrefused to speak to the police without his
attorney present. But his attorney wasn'tavailable, so the meeting didn't happen.
Frank's refusal gave police an indication ofguilt in actuality. It was probably a
good idea for him to wait forhis attorney. But Jim Conley provided a

(26:37):
fourth story about the incident during afour hour interview. He said Frank took
him to the body and confessed tokilling the girl. So in his fourth
version, this is what Conley describedAfter Frank had killed the girl, Conley
helped Frank carry the body to theelevator. Conley then took the elevator to
the first floor while Frank used thetrapdoor to return to the first floor.
They both wrote the elevator to thesecond and went to Frank's office, where

(27:00):
he told Conley what to write onthe notes. Conley claimed that Frank then
gave him two hundred dollars, butthen took it back and said that he
would make it up to him ina later time. Conley said he didn't
tell the police this story originally becausehe figured that Frank would get out of
jail and give him the money hepromised, but with Frank still locked up,
this wouldn't happen. You would thinkthat with four different stories, the

(27:22):
police wouldn't find him credible, butthis isn't what happened. They refused to
move off of Frank for the murder. A popular lawyer named William Manning Smith
was hired by the Atlanta Georgian torepresent Conley. Smith had a reputation for
successfully representing black clients. Smith believedConnley's innocence, but he wasn't fond of

(27:42):
the interviews his client was giving whileincarcerated. He was worried about reporters siding
more with Leo Frank. Leo Frankwent on trial Monday, July twenty eighth,
nineteen thirteen, at the Fulton CountySuperior Court on Prior Street in the
former City Hall. Bill Judge LeonardS. Rohan was on the bench to

(28:03):
hear the trial. Prosecuting attorneys wereHugh Manson, Dorsey Frank, Arthur Hooper,
and Ea Stevens. The Frank defenseteam consisted of eight attorneys. The
jury was made of twelve white males. At the time, it was the
trial of the century in Georgia.The courtroom was full of both black and
white spectators, and it didn't matterthat the temperatures had moved into the high

(28:23):
nineties and the weather was extremely hot. They wanted to see justice for Mary
Fagin, and they were convinced thatLeo Frank had killed her. Missus J.
W. Coleman, Mary Fagin's mother, testified for the prosecution. She
had a difficult time staying composed.She broke down in tears when she identified

(28:44):
the clothing worn by her daughter onthe day she died. George Epps Mary's
fellow teenage co worker and friend,testified next. On April the twenty six,
both he and Mary had taken thestreetcar together. They were going to
spend the day together and eat icecream at the Confederate Memorial. They parade
at one pm, but after Marydidn't show up, Epps left. After
Epps Newtly, the man who hadfound Mary's body, testified, He told

(29:10):
the jury that gory details about findingMary Fagin's corpse. He testified for two
hours and then repeated the same storyhe had originally told the police about finding
her body covered in dirt and layingin a trash filled basement. He also
repeated his story about Leo Frank beingnervous and calling him to make sure that
there was nothing suspicious going on tothe plant. He said it was the

(29:32):
first time that Frank had ever askedhim to do this, so he found
an unusual behavior. On the secondday, police Sergeant L. Stobbs testified
he had received a call from Leeabout a dead body. He immediately rushed
to the pencil factory and found MaryFagin lying face down with a cord wrapped
around her neck and a pair offemale underpants. Also wrapped around her neck.

(29:53):
Her dress was pulled up, whichindicated a sexual assault. The dead
girl's head was covered in blood anddirt. He also found the two murder
notes. He could also tell thather body was dragged to the spot where
it lay. Detective John Stearns testifiednext. He said that he had called
Frank and told him about Mary Fagin'sdeath. He claimed that when Frank came

(30:15):
to the factory, he appeared nervous. On the fourth day of the trial,
a machinist named Arby Barrett testified thathe had found bloodstains on a machine
on the second floor. He alsofound an empty pay envelope that belonged to
Mary Fagin. Montine Stover, anex employee of the factory, repeated her
story about arriving at the factory aroundnoon and going to Frank's office for her

(30:37):
pay. She waited for five minutesand he never showed up. On the
fifth day of the trial, thesecretary of the State Board of Health,
doctor Roy Harris, said that heexamined Mary Fagan's body and he thought that
she had died shortly after eating herfinal meal, which consisted of bread and
cabbage. He believed that she hadprobably died between noon and one pm.

(30:57):
He also thought at Fagin's head woundswere from a human fist beating her to
death. Jim Conley then took thestand and gave an explicit testimony to the
jury. Apparently some of the detailswere so disturbing that Judge Rowan had women
and children leave the courtroom. Conlintestified that Frank often had sexual intercourse with
women in his second floor office.He claimed that while Frank had intercourse with

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these women, he served as Frank'slookout. During the police investigation, it
had come out that Frank was awomanizer. A witness named c. Brutus
Dalton said that Frank had a terriblereputation throughout the factory. Conning told a
jury that on April the twenty sixth, he saw Frank talking to Mary Fagin
in his office. He said thatFrank then had him come into the office.

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Conley said that after Mary Fagin turneddown Frank's sexual advances, he struck
her, killed her, and lefther in the machine room. Frank had
Conny removed Mary from the room.He said she was dead. Following Frank's
instructions, he attempted to remove thebody, but he couldn't, only said
that he needed Frank's help. Allegedly, the men placed her in the elevator

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and took the body to the basement. Conny said that he dragged the body
to the corner and left her there. The men then went back to Frank's
office. Conley said that Frank promisedhim to give him money if he kept
his mouth shut. Frank then askedhim why should I hang. Frank then
ordered Connly to write the two notesthat were found by the body. The
notes were written in an effort toimplicate newt Lee the reference to night which

(32:27):
in one of the notes was referencingthe night watchman Newt Lee. During a
cross examination, Conley admitted the lineto the police and that he had changed
his story several times. He alsoadmitted to having an extensive criminal record and
defecating in the elevator's chef before Mary'sdeath. Colin was on the stand for
sixteen hours. Although he was grilledextensively, he maintained his composure. He

(32:52):
also admitted that he helped Frank coverup Mary's murder. Although Connley was a
criminal who was tripped up in lawand provided several different stories, most people
believed him. It felt that Conleywasn't bright enough to make up such a
story unless it was true. Onthe ninth day of the trial, doctor
Roy Harris returned to the stand andsaid that Mary Fagin had died shortly after

(33:15):
eating her last meal, but hehad changed the cause of death. Her
cause of death was strangulation, asopposed to his original statement that the killer
had beat her to death with hisfists. The prosecution rested its case on
the tenth day of the trial.During the next two weeks, the Leo
Frank defense team presented its case.They offered opposing theories to suggest that Leo

(33:39):
Frank was an innocent man. Onetheory being that Jim Conley and Newly worked
together to kill Mary Fagin. Afactory forman named Lemmy Quinn said that he
was at the factory on the dayMary Fagin was killed. He said that
he saw Frank alone in his officeworking around twelve to twenty pm, and
this contradicted Conley's story. According toConway, Frank was with Mary in the

(34:01):
factory's metal room around twelve twenty pm. On Monday, August eighteenth,
the nineteenth day of the trial,Leo. Frank testified in his own defense
with an unsworn statement. In thosedays, Georgia law forbid criminal defendants from
testifying under oath. This simply meantthe defendant could give a statement without being

(34:22):
cross examined unless the defendant agreed toit. Frank wasn't cross examined. He
said that Mary came to his officeto receive her pay. He said that
he went to his cash box andthen paid her before leaving. She asked
that the medal for her job hadarrived, and he said no. She
wouldn't be able to return to workuntil the medal was delivered. Frank said
she'd left and that was the lasttime he saw her alive. He proclaimed

(34:45):
his innocence and said that he neversaw Jim Conley on April the twenty sixth,
nineteen thirteen, the day of themurder. Frank said that Conley was
lying about seeing him on that day. This was Frank's statement. The statement
of the Negrol Conley is a tissueof lies first to last. I know
nothing whatever of the cause of thedeath of Mary Fagin, and Conly's statement

(35:05):
as to his coming up and helpingme disposed of the body or that I
had anything to do with her orto do with him that day is a
monstrous lie. Frank also denied havinginappropriate relations with any women at the factory.
He explained why he was nervous whenoriginally interviewed by the police. The
shock of seeing Mary Fagin's corpse rattledhim and gave him anxiety. He had

(35:28):
a valid point. Most of uswould probably be just as upset to see
the corpse of a teenager who hadbeen brutally murdered. And then you'd have
to remember that the police woke Frankup from a sound sleep when they visited
him, so he was groggy,anxious, and shocked when he saw Mary
Fagin's dead body. Closing arguments beganon day twenty two of the trial.
The prosecution referred to Frank as ajuckal un hide character. He was a

(35:52):
deviant, sadist who could hide thatpart of himself from family, friends in
the public. The defense argued thatJim Connolly had killed and robbed Mary Fagin
and blamed it on Leo Frank.The prosecution would then attack Frank's character.
They compared him to a man namedThomas Durant, who was hanged for killing
two women in San Francisco in eighteenninety eight. The defense team clothes with

(36:13):
telling the jury that Frank was beingpersecuted like other Jews for their religious beliefs.
The defense again blamed Jim Connley forkilling Mary Fagan. In the final
arguments, the defense attorney Luther Rossercontended that Leo Frank was but the latest
in a long line of Jews whowere persecuted for their religious beliefs. While
maintaining that Jim Connley had killed MaryFagan, the defense argued that Frank was

(36:37):
a pillar of the community and moretrustworthy than Conley. Connley was described as
black, dirty, filthy, anda drunk. Frank's defense team also used
racism in its defense. For instance, the defense team claimed that since Conley
was black, he was more likelyto lie and commit a murder. Frank
even referred to Conley as a blackbrute who wasn't credible with his testimony.

(37:00):
But it didn't seem to matter whatstrategies the defense used. No one believed
that Leo Frank was innocent his testimonyjust didn't want any supporters. The trial
ended on August the twenty fifth,nineteen thirteen, just before five pm,
the jury found Leo Frank guilty ofmurdering Mary Fagin. Before the verdict was

(37:22):
read, the police removed Frank fromthe courtroom. They feared that mob justice
might take over and go after Frankor his family. After the guilty verdict
came down, the locals wanted immediatejustice. They began chanting, killed the
Jew, Killed the Jew. Thecrowd went into a frenzy. When Hugh
Dorsey, who was on the prosecutionteam, stepped outside, three men on

(37:44):
horses grabbed him and passed him throughthe crowd as if he were a rock
star. He was one of theheroes who had successfully prosecuted Leo Frank,
who everyone believed was some kind ofperverted monster. Back in those days,
if you were guilty of murder,the law didn't mess around with you.
They executed you in a timely manner. The day after the trial, Leo
Frank learned his punishment. He wouldbe hanged on October tenth, nineteen thirteen.

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Frank's lawyers immediately appealed and requested anew trial. The appeal momentarily delayed
the execution. On Halloween. JudgeRowan denied Frank's request for a new trial.
Frank's execution date was rescheduled to Aprilthe seventeenth, nineteen fourteen. The
Georgias Supreme Court affirmed Judge Rowan's decision. It appeared that Leo Frank's destiny was

(38:31):
to hang at the end of arope. Jim Conley was found guilty of
being an accomplice and sentenced to achain gang for a year hard labor was
a light sentence for someone involved inallegedly helping someone else cover up a murder.
After another unsuccessful motion to have Frank'sguilty verdict tossed out, Frank's execution
date was rescheduled for January the twentysecond, nineteen fifteen. But life was

(38:54):
better for Jim Connley. He wasreleased on December of the ninth, nineteen
fourteen, after serving ten months ofhis twelve month sentence. Afterward, Frank's
final appeal to the United States SupremeCourt was denied on April the ninth,
nineteen fifteen. After his execution wasdelayed three times. It was rescheduled for
June twenty second, nineteen fifteen,but Frank's attorneys would continue to try to

(39:19):
save their client. They unsuccessfully requestedan appeal for clemency with the Georgia Prison
Commission. Two weeks later, GeorgiaGovernor John Slayton sat in on a hearing
requesting to community Frank's death sentence.It did seem that Frank had some people
who supported sparing his life. JudgeRowland, whose sentence Frank to death,
supported commuting the death sentence, asdid William Smith, who represented Jim Connolly.

(39:45):
Smith had even changed his mind andbelieved that Connolly, and not Frank,
had actually murdered Mary Fagin. Thosewho wanted Frank to hang were Hugh
Dorsey, who had prosecuted the case, and Joseph Brown. The previous governor
of Georgia. Unwarned Slayton that reversingthe death sentence would likely cause all kinds
of chaos and anger among his constituents. But Governor Slayton was a fair man.

(40:08):
He didn't feel right executing a manwho could be innocent. He read
through the trial documentation and visited theNational Pencil Company twice to get a feel
for the crime. Selton felt uncomfortableabout executing Frank because he thought that there
was a possibility that he was innocent. He just couldn't support hanging a man
who he believed could be innocent.On June twenty first, nineteen fifteen,

(40:32):
Governor Slayton made the unpopular decision tocommute Leo Frank's death sentence. It was
the day before Frank was scheduled tohang. Leo Frank was now sentenced to
life in prison. Slayton realized thatthe decision would cause a massive uproar.
He quietly left Georgia after his successorcame into office. Here's what Slayton said

(40:52):
about his decision to spare Leo Frank'slife. Feeling as I do about this
case, I would be a murdererif I allowed this man to hang.
It may mean that I must livein obscurity the rest of my days,
but I would rather be plowing ina field for the rest of my life
than to feel that I had thatblood on my hands. Governor Slayton correctly
assumed that a mob might try tokill Frank once they learned about his communed

(41:15):
sentence. He was transferred in theearly morning from Fulton County Jail to the
Georgia State Penitentiary in Milledgeville. Aspredicted people were incense. When they found
out about Frank's community death sentence.They were bloodthirsty and they wanted to see
him hang. But then it's notsurprising to expect this from people who were

(41:35):
angry over the senseless murder of athirteen year old girl. It was a
difficult time to be in Atlanta.Several thousand protesters showed up at city Hall
to protest. The Georgian National Guard, local law enforcement, and deputized friends
of the governor were tasked with commontempers and breaking up the mob. Slayton
soon became known as the King ofthe Jews and referred to as George's traitorous

(41:58):
governor. And if Leo Frank feltsafe in prison, he was wrong.
Sometime during the evening of July theseventeenth, nineteen fifteen, another prisoner named
William Crean savagely attacked Frank. Creanwas a convicted killer. He used a
seven inch butcher knife to cut Frank'sthroat. Crean had taken a knife from
the prison's kitchen. Crean was angrythat Frank was in prison. He thought

(42:21):
it disgusting that a child killer likeFrank should be incarcerated. Crean also thought
that if he killed Frank, hemight receive a pardon. Of course,
his thinking was squad because that's nothow prison works. Even in those days,
people who killed children were in thebottom of the prison food chain.
But somehow Frank managed to survive theassault. Medical staff closed a gruesome wound

(42:42):
and saved his life. Had theyknown what Frank had in store for him,
they probably would have let him die. Several days later, Governor Nathaniel
Harris, the new governor, visitedFrank in prison. He was highly disturbed
by Frank's grewsome appearance. The gashwent from ear to ear. He noted
that Frank looked frightful and was luckyto be alive. Governor Harris thought that

(43:02):
he would visit Leo Frank to formhis own opinion on whether Frank was a
killer or not. After having abrief conversation with a convicted killer, Governor
Harris believed that Frank had a hardand careless heart and that he probably did
kill Mary Fagin. Over the nextcouple of months, the anger over Frank's
sentence continued to fester. He throughoutAtlanta. A man named Thomas Watson,

(43:24):
who published The Jeffersonian and Watson's magazineused his papers to write terrible anti semantic
rants against Frank and Jewish people.The problem was, Watson's readership increased and
more and more people began to shareWatson's anti semantic views. Watson also didn't
let up about his anger over Frank'scommuted sentence. It sounded as if people

(43:47):
had lost their focus on the deathof an innocent teenager. It was no
longer about Mary Fagan. The situationescalated into an anti Semitism movement. Watson
proved to be a master manipulator.He stirred up his readers with hateful rhetoric
and his hateful Leo Frank. Watsonuped his game and began calling for some

(44:08):
vigilante justice against Frank. He saidthat citizens needed to handle Frank outside the
law, and apparently some people listenedbecause a group of vigilanes calling themselves the
Knights of Mary Fagin began to recruitmembers to help break Leo Frank from prison
and kill him. A combination ofracism, anger, and street justice had

(44:30):
rattled Atlanta. The situation became apowder keg, just waiting for a spark
to ignite it. On August thesixteenth, nineteen fifteen, eight vehicles with
twenty eight armed men drove to theMilageville State Penitentiary. The mob arrived at
the prison around ten pm. Theycut the phone lines, drained the gas
from prison vehicles, overpowered the guards, and placed the warden in handcuffs.

(44:54):
The men dragged Leo Frank from hiscell and drove away with him. The
It was carefully planned. The Vigilanesdrove towards Marietta, Georgia. They went
undetected as they stayed off the mainroads and drove along the back roads.
Other towns had lookouts who worked withthe Vigilane group to ensure that the mission
was a success. On August theseventeenth, the group found a spot near

(45:19):
Marietta to execute Leo Frank. Thelocation chosen was near Mary Fagin's childhood home.
The mob dragged Frank outside. Hisankles were tied and a piece of
canvas was wrapped around his waist.A rope was wrapped around his neck.
He was hoisted onto a table facingMary Fagin's former home. Frank tried to
plead with the mob. He toldthem that he was innocent, but it

(45:42):
didn't matter. The crowd didn't care. They didn't want to hear about it.
Frank was hanged at seven a m. That morning. Here's how one
viewer at the scene described what hesaw. Frank died a lingering death.
He slowly choked to death. Hisbody began to shake violently as his bare
feet jerked. His body began tosway in the wind. He was dead
and justice was served. Do youwant to really know how morbid these people

(46:07):
were? After Frank died, crowdsof men, women, and children came
to view the body. Souvenir huntersbegan taking pieces of clothing from his body,
ripping off branches from the hanging tree, while others took pictures that would
eventually become postcards. People were clamoringfor anything that would serve as a macab
keepsake to prove that they had witnessedthe dead body of Leo Frank. Other

(46:30):
citizens didn't want souvenirs. They preferredto treat the body like a pinata and
physically assaulted. After people got theirpound of flesh from Leo Frank, the
body was returned to Atlanta and openedfor a public viewing. Imagine how hated
this man was for law enforcement tolet people gauk get a corpse under the
careful watch of police. Thousand scameto view the body. Unfortunately, I

(46:53):
don't think much has changed in overa hundred years. I think if given
an opportunity, people would do thesame today to a convicted killer if they
could. The body was embalmed andclaimed by Lucille Frank, Frank's widow.
She had her husband buried at MountCarmel Cemetery in New York. Before she

(47:13):
took his body away. Someone hadbeen kind enough to remove Frank's wedding ring
and give it to his widow.It was Frank's final wish before he was
hanged. An anonymous person granted thatfinal request. But even after the death
of Leo Frank, The New YorkTimes reported that most people in Atlanta did
not care about his death. Theyfelt that he got what he deserved.

(47:35):
He killed an innocent child, andhe paid the ultimate price. Even today,
would we have any sympathy if amob broke the BTK killer out of
prison and hanged him. I'm gonnago on a limb and say that most
of us probably wouldn't shed a singletier. A grand jury convened to name
those who killed Frank. Many ofthose involved were prominent and respected members of
the community, so it was nosurprise that no one was named or charged

(48:00):
with killing Leo Frank. Surprise surprise, right. Another disturbing factor in this
case was that over a thousand Jewishresidents moved away from Georgia because of the
anti Semitism that led to the murderof Leo Frank. Many Jewish families even
abandoned some of their family customs soas not to draw attention to themselves.
Jewish people who lived in Atlanta didn'twant others to know that they were Jewish

(48:22):
because they were fearful of reprisal.On Thanksgiving Night in nineteen fifteen, members
of the Knights of Mary Fagin hadgathered at a location to burn across and
swear their religiance to the Ku KluxKlan. Racism and hatred ran rampant in
those days, and I'm not soconvinced that it has changed much in over
one hundred years. So here werea few other interesting points about this story.

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August the first, nineteen thirty three, William Crean, the man who
stabbed Leo Frank in prison, receiveda full pardon April twenty third, nineteen
fifty seven, Lucille Frank, Frank'swidow, died from heart disease in Atlanta.
She never remarried December nineteen eighty three. The Georgia Board of Pardons and

(49:07):
Paroles pardon Frank on March eleventh,nineteen eighty six, but didn't clear him
of killing Mary Fagin. They feltit was best to not address the killing
since it's no longer possible to knowwho actually killed Mary Fagan. Today,
this story still remains one of themost fascinating true crime stories in Atlanta history.
Of course, this case takes aback seat to the Atlanta child killings

(49:30):
for media coverage. So what dotoday's true crime buffs Historians and criminologists think.
Many think that Atlanta got it wrongand convicted an innocent man. The
popular belief is that Jim Connolly wasa true killer. Conny had a rap
sheet longer than my arm. Hejust couldn't stay out of trouble. I

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don't see how anyone believe anything thathe ever said, but the prosecutor needed
his testimony to convict Frank, andit apparently didn't bother the jury or anyone
else that Conny had four different versionsof what happened, or that he had
perjured himself on the stand. Forsome reason, no one cared. People
wanted to see Frank pay for thecrime. I cannot help but wonder if

(50:12):
Frank was hated so much because hewas Jewish. The entire case against Lego
Frank was a farce. There wereso many inconsistencies in the investigation. The
police war was non existent. Theyblamed Frank without any real evidence. It
was alleged that some of the witnesseswere threatened, and there were many questions
about the lack of any substantial evidence. One of the most significant pieces of

(50:35):
evidence was the feces left by Connolly. It was still intact when found.
Conny admitted on the stand that hehad relieved himself before the murder. Yet
he claimed that he and Frank hadused the elevator to move Mary Fagin's body
to the basement. If true,how did the two men use the elevator
without smashing the feces. This wasn'tpossible. The feces was a powerful piece

(50:57):
of evidence. It proved that Conleywas near maryry Fagin's body. The two
notes written by Connley to implicate securitywatching minute leave were also next to Fagin's
body. Beyond a shadow of adoubt. This proves that Conley was in
the basement with Mary, but therewas no actual evidence that placed Lego Frank
anywhere near Mary Fagan's body. Frankwas solely placed at the scene based on

(51:20):
the testimony of a liar and careercriminal. After Conley's release, he kept
his name out of the headlines andaway from the police for a few years,
but in January nineteen nineteen, hetried to break into a store.
The owner shot Conley. He survivedand went to trial for burglary charges.
He ended up serving fourteen years ofa twenty year sentence and left prison in

(51:43):
nineteen thirty three. It's believed thatConnley eventually died sometime in nineteen sixty two.
It was even alleged that he hadconfessed on his deathbed to kill him
Mary Fagin, but no one hasany audio or signed confession to prove this.
But it did come out that anymaud Car, who was Connley's girlfriend
at the time of Mary Fagin's murder, claimed that Conley gave her a jailhouse

(52:06):
confession and had admitted that he hadkilled Mary. Conley also told her that
he had stolen Mary's pay. Carteralso confirmed that Conley had definitely written the
two notes found your Mary's body.Carter had written an Affidavid and provided it
to Frank's defense team to prove Frank'sinnocence. On April the twenty fourth,
nineteen fourteen, Frank's defense team triedto use Carter's statement as evidence for a

(52:30):
new trial. The court denounced thestatement and refused to give Frank another trial.
But even with this letter, Idon't know if the jury would have
believed in any way. Much ofthe public was blinded by their hatred of
Jews. There were certainly enough doubtto have found Leo Frank an innocent man.
Many years after Leo Frank had died. There was one final surprise about

(52:52):
this case. On March fourth,nineteen eighty two, an eighty three year
old Tennessee man named Alonzo Man saidthat he had at the National Pencil Company
when he was fourteen. Man wasill and he wanted to share some information
about Mary Fagan's murder. He claimedthat Jim Conley had definitely killed Mary Fagin.
Man saw Conley carrying Mary Fagin's corpseover his shoulder. He was alone

(53:15):
and headed to the trapdoor that wentinto the basement. Man said he looked
directly at Conley, and Conley toldhim that if he said anything, he
would kill him. Man told hismother about what he saw. She told
him to keep the information to himselfand not tell anyone. She didn't want
her son involved or did get hurt. Even after Frank was convicted, Man's

(53:36):
parents said for him to remain silent. They just didn't want to deal with
any potential backlash if their son spokeup. The locals wanted Frank to die
for killing Mary Fagin, and itdidn't seem to matter whether he was innocent
or not. Man said he hadbeen carrying this terrible secret for many years.
He insisted that Jim Conley had liedon the stand and that he was

(53:57):
the real killer. Man told hisstory to the Tennessee in a newspaper.
He took a lot of detector testsand went through a psychological stress test.
Testing results indicated that Man had toldthe truth. His story appeared in the
newspaper on March seventh, nineteen eightytwo. In November nineteen eighty two,
Man repeated his story on video.Man was eighty five when he died in

(54:19):
nineteen eighty five. The Anti DefamationLeague is an international Jewish non governmental organization
in America that works to prevent antiSemitism. The organization had hoped that Man's
testimony would get the Georgia Board ofPardons and Proles to exonerate Leo Frank.
They would exonerate Frank in nineteen eightysix, but they didn't clear his name
of killing Mary Fagan. I foundthis a little odd. So he was

(54:44):
exonerated, but he wasn't excluded asthe killer regardless. It really doesn't matter
now since he's deceased. But thereare those who didn't believe Man. They
questioned why his parents would choose tohave their son remain silent and let a
white man hang instead of a blackman. Back in this time, there
was much tension in between blacks andwhites, so it seems strange that a

(55:06):
white family wouldn't want to see ablack man hang for killing a white victim.
There was another logical theory discrediting Man'sstory. If you believed him,
then you had to believe that Conleycrossed the busiest areas in the factory carrying
a dead white girl without anyone noticing. This didn't seem possible. Another source
of contention is that Conley didn't workSaturdays or on holidays, so it was

(55:30):
Jim Conley even at the plant ona Saturday that also happened to be on
the same day as a holiday.Also, Conley had received his pay on
Friday, April of twenty fifth,at six thirty pm, so it just
didn't seem to make any sense thatConnedy would be at work on a Saturday.
He didn't have any reason to bethere unless he was asked by Leo

(55:50):
Frank to come in and serve asa lookout. But other witnesses had claimed
that Conley had shown up at thefactory that day with the intention of robbing
a co worker. Though Mary Faganhas been dead for over a hundred years,
historians and true crime fanatics continue todebate over this case. There have
been songs, a movie, andplays based on this classic true crime story.

(56:12):
It still remains one of the mostcontroversial cases in Atlanta's history. My
final thoughts in this case or thatLeo Frank didn't seem to get a fair
trial. It almost seemed as ifhe was already primed to be convicted.
During the early nineteen hundreds, antiSemitism and hatred for blacks ran rampant through
Atlanta. The jury had an opportunityto either crucify and educated Jewish man who

(56:36):
came from a good family, orthey could hang a black man who was
a common criminal, liar, anda thief. The journy and nearly everyone
else in Atlanta wanted to see LeoFrank hang, and after the law intervened
and commuted his sentence to life inprison, it didn't matter. A group
of vigilantes took the law into theirown hands and murdered Leo Frank. You
can call it street justice if youwish, but I call it murder.

(57:00):
And no one was ever punished forkilling Frank. Today, the case leads
a legacy behind of injustice, murder, anti semitism, deceit, and shoddy
police work. This case left aterrible stain in an American history that will
remain forever. And that's it forthe story of the murder of Mary Fagin.
Thanks for listening, and always rememberthat if you wake up on the

(57:22):
right side of the dirt, you'rehaving a great day.