10 Chapter VI Leo Frank is Arrested Leo Frank Case 1913

Leo M. Frank, superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, was taken to the police station early on Tuesday, April 29, and detained on suspicion in relation to Mary Phagan's slaying. He never regained his freedom after that day.

He was a different suspect from the old mute Lee, the young giant Gantt, or the former conductor Arthur Mullinax. He was slim, boyish-looking, and a frail, delicate man. His own words, delivered nearly four months later to the jury that determined his fate, are the best way to understand who he was. He stated, "In the year 1884, on the 17th day of April, I was born in Paris, Texas.". My parents moved me to Brooklyn, New York, when I was three months old, and I stayed there until I moved south to Atlanta.

I went to Brooklyn public schools and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, to prepare for college before settling down here. I enrolled in Cornell University's mechanical engineering program in the fall of 1902, where I studied for four years before earning my degree in June 1906. I then agreed to work for the B as a draftsman. F. High Park, Massachusetts-based Sturdivant Company. The National Meter Company of Brooklyn, New York hired me as a testing, engineer, and draftsman after I had been with this company for about six months. I then moved back home to Brooklyn.

I stayed in this position up until about the middle of October 1907, when, at the invitation of a few Atlanta residents, I traveled down there to speak with them about starting and running a pencil factory that would be located there. After spending about two weeks here, I left again for New York, where I booked a ticket to Europe. Nine months later, I was still in Europe.

During my trip abroad. I researched the pencil industry and oversaw the installation and testing of the equipment that had been contracted earlier. I came back to America for the first half of August 1908 and headed straight for Atlanta, which has been my home ever since.

I got hitched in Atlanta. a female from Atlanta. Madame Lucille Selig.

Mr. and Mrs. Dot E, my wife's parents-in-law, have hosted us for the majority of our married life. At 68 East Georgia Avenue, Selig. Tuesday morning, just before noon, Frank was arrested by the police while he was at the pencil factory. Within ten minutes, Frank, who was detained in a cell, was picked up by the car that had left the police station with Detective Harry Scott of the Pinkerton Agency and City Detective John Black.

Officer in Charge of Police Newport A. Prior to the coroner's inquest's conclusion, Lanford declared that he would be detained. The most recent arrest's news spread quickly.

There was much speculation regarding Frank's involvement in the case. Many of his friends came to his aid. Numerous people who had never seen him asserted that he must be the guilty party.

By his own admission, Frank was the last person known to have seen Mary Phagan alive at the time he made the following damning points about what was known at the time. That he seemed apprehensive when Newt Lee arrived at the factory early in the afternoon, and that he did something new that night: he called Newt Lee on the phone. that he felt uneasy when Gantt arrived at the factory at 6:00 on Saturday afternoon.

When officers took him to the factory on Sunday morning, he was uneasy. After his arrest, Frank's friends raised an uproar of outrage. They immediately hired Luther Z.

One of Atlanta's top legal counsel is Rosser. While Frank was being questioned by detectives, Rosser immediately called the station, spoke with his client, and was there. Frank spoke at length with the Pinkerton investigator Harry Scott whom the factory officials had hired in addition to his attorney.

The Tuesday before the inquest began, when four suspects were identified as the murder's perpetrators, saw the highest level of public sentiment since that time. Regarding the identity of the guilty man, opinions were evenly divided. Although the majority criticized either Leo Frank, the company's manager who was white, or Newt Lee, the black employee who was the most modest in the pencil factory.

Suspicion against Gantts and Mullinax was already quickly fading. The factory, the residences of the suspects, and the entire city were all searched by detectives from the city and Pinkerton forces for leads.