The Leo Frank Case: The Inquest Starts - Inside Story of Georgia's Greatest Murder Mystery

This is the seventh Chapter in the 22-part series on the 'Leo Frank Case: Inside Story Of Georgia's Greatest Murder Mystery'.

After extensive interviews with Frank and Newt Lee at the police station on Tuesday night, the coroner's inquest got underway on Wednesday morning. Numerous witnesses, among them factory girls, showed up at the police station to give statements for the inquest. Constables W.F. Anderson and Brown spoke first when they testified and described how they learned of the murder and how, on that terrifying Saturday night, they discovered the body. Mr. Anderson described the basement as a long, narrow space bounded by rock walls. It featured an elevator shaft close to the front, a boiler in the center on the right, and an opening partition on the left that looked like a junk room. I clarified that a restroom was available. The left side is behind the door and the girl's body, and the right side is behind the cauldron. Brown went with Anderson to the witness stand and gave a highly unfavorable testimony against Newt Lee. Unless you were within a few feet of the body, he said, it was impossible to tell that it belonged to a white girl.

Brown stated in her deposition that at approximately eleven o'clock in the evening, Mary Phagan's clothes, including a purple dress with white trimmings, shoes, and gunmetal-black slippers, were discovered piled up on her chair by 4:45 a.m. time. Taking the stand, Newt Lee stated in his testimony that he had arrived at the factory at 4:00 a.m. me. Then he departed as instructed by Frank. He stated in his testimony that he discovered it face up, despite what detectives and police claim to be the case. A. particular J.Q. Spear of Cartersville observed a girl and a man on a Saturday afternoon outside a pencil factory; they appeared both nervous and excited. The girl was spotted at P. occurs on Sunday. It was the same as Chapel of J. Bloomerfield, according to Newt Lee's testimony. In her testimony, Mary Phagan said to George Epps, a young newsboy who had driven into town with her, that Mr. Frank had looked at her and seemed suspicious. Late on Saturday night, E.L. Sentell stated in his testimony that he had seen Mullinax with a girl he thought was Mary Phagan. On the second floor, R.P. Barrett stated in his testimony that he discovered bloodstains close to Mary's machine. Taking the stand, Gant repeated the narrative he had given the detectives earlier. J.W. Coleman described in her testimony the terror that she and her mother experienced the night of Leo M. Frank's murder. The note discovered on the girl's corpse, according to assistant bank teller Barry of the Fourth National Bank, was written in the same handwriting as multiple other notes penned by detectives at police headquarters and black nightguard Newt Lee claimed.

In order to work toward unraveling the mystery surrounding Mary Phagan's death, the inquest was rescheduled for this coming Thursday. They came to the conclusion that Mary had never left the factory and had only occasionally visited it on Saturday afternoons to pick up her pay. We looked into and found to be unfounded the claims that Mary was seen in the middle of the night with Mullinax and girls who fit her description. Pearl Robinson, not Mary Phagan with Mullinax, was seen, according to E.L. Sentell's confirmation. Other witnesses who claimed to have seen the girl on Saturday afternoon also came forward with the possibility that their accounts of what they saw was inaccurate.

Authorities have arrived at the tenable hypothesis that Mary Phagan never survived her ordeal at the pencil factory. The inquest was put on hold while Gant and Mullinax were taken out of custody on Thursday afternoon. The Donahue coroner announced that the girl's autopsy has been rescheduled for Monday. In anticipation of a Police Headquarters investigation, Newt Lee and Leo Frank, the two suspects, were moved to Fulton County Tower. With the exception of Frank's name being read to the Fulton County, Georgia jailer, the coroner's warrant that led them to the Tower was the same in both cases. It appeared clear that detectives had the answer to the mystery once the two men in the tower and two other previous suspects were freed on Thursday. However, at two in the morning, James Jim Conley, a black cleaner employed at a pencil factory, was taken into custody. me. At twilight. me. He and Snowball, the elevator boy, were taken into custody at the Police Headquarters factory on Thursday. Newspapers at the time only ran a single paragraph regarding Conley's arrest, and it was not widely reported. Investigators made their sixth arrest in the Phagan murder case at one in the morning. ..

Thursday at midnight, James Conley, a black janitor working at the National Pencil Factory, was observed using the building's back faucet to clean his shirts. He said that the stains on his shirt were from rust and that he had washed it in preparation for his court appearance to answer to a summons for questioning. The police take his testimony seriously, and theories and leads are flooding the detective agency. In order to remove the suspicion that hung over the well-known young superintendent, many of Frank's friends personally worked on the case. The detective agency is inundated with theories regarding Mary Phagan's cause of death and potential legal avenues for bringing her killers to justice. The agency has received hundreds of letters from the state and six other states offering advice and theories, and people have been calling the authorities to tell them how to proceed. The two women's murderous dream and the murderer's specifics are the most significant details in this work. As Frank and Blacks condemned him, Frank's friends rushed to his defense. Joseph M. Brown told Lieutenant General J. Van Holt Nash on Thursday night that he should stay in contact with the Georgia National Guard attached to the 5th Regiment so that the unit is prepared to act in case of emergency.

Officials from the city, county, and even the state are now paying great attention to this. Governor Brown gave Lieutenant additional advice. In order to keep the 5th Georgia Regiment prepared for action in case of an emergency, General J. Van Holt Nash should stay in contact with the Georgia National Guard. In order to prevent signs of civil unrest, the governor issued a warning to police and prison officials. General E. A. E. Frank and Lee were inside the prison tower when Pomeroy, the 5th Regiment commander, gathered his men in the Auditorium Armory. He kept them there until late at night, at eleven o'clock. The soldiers were released to head back to their residences at 3:30 pm.

Until the coroner's jury reconvened on Thursday and continued until Monday morning, the unfounded rumors of mob violence were dispelled. On Saturday night, the militia was once more instructed to remain on standby in case trouble arose. A joint effort by state and local law enforcement to solve the case resulted from a meeting between Chief Detective Rumford and Coroner Paul Donoghue, which called more witnesses to the investigation. All through Saturday, there were rumors going around the city that one of the two detainees in the tower had confessed. The authorities fiercely denied these rumors, but they turned out to be completely false.
The state as a whole, as well as elite county, city, state, and outside agencies, were working on the case during the first week following the discovery of Mary Phagan's body. There were two suspects inside the tower. Anticipating the coroner's investigation, I was excited to respond.

Seeking Justice for Little Mary Phagan
https://www.LittleMaryPhagan.com

Please purchase the book, 'The Frank Case: Inside Story of Georgia's Greatest Murder Mystery by The Atlanta Publishing Company' to learn more about the Leo Frank case.