Sunday, 19th October 1913 Frank Innocent Says Man Who Claims To Be Murder Witness

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HE WILL TELL

WHO

COMMITTED

CRIME

ON ARRIVAL

HERE

Makes Statement to Chief of

Birmingham Police

and Catches Train at Midnight

for Atlanta in

Company With Detective"

Prominent Citizen

Slew girl, He Says, But It Was

Not Frank.

By L. W. Friedman.

Birmingham, Ala., October 18"(Special.)"A Birmingham man

who says he was an eyewitness to the murder of Mary Phagan in

Atlanta, and who asserts positively that Leo M. Frank is not guilty,

left here at midnight tonight for Atlanta in company with the

detective sent to Birmingham by Sheriff Mangum, of Fulton

county.

This man, whose name has not been given out here, works

in Birmingham, and is a respectable citizen, according to local

police officers, to whom he made his statement.

The guilty man is a prominent citizen of Atlanta, he told

Chief Bodeker, of the Birmingham police, but it is not Leo Frank. I

have no interest in the case other than to see that no innocent

man hangs for the crime, and I will tell the whole story when I get

to Atlanta.

This man told his story to Chief Rodekar Friday, and the chief

promptly wired Sheriff Mangum. A detective arrived today, and

the man left with him for Atlanta at midnight.

Sheriff Mangum was reached by phone at his home early

Sunday morning and stated to a Constitution reporter that he

knew nothing about such a man in Birmingham"that he had

never heard anything of the case, and had not sent a detective to

Birmingham. Mr. Friedman, the man who sends the story to The

Constitution, is a reporter for The Birmingham News, and has

been for twenty years. He is probably the best known and one of

the most highly respected newspaper men in Alabama. The

Birmingham News is printing the story.

PAGE 50, COLUMN 3

ATLANTA

PYTHIANS

ARE PREPARING

FOR

DISTRICT

CONVENTION

The Pythians of Atlanta are making extensive preparations

for the fifth district convention of Pythias, to be held in Atlanta on

October 29.

The sessions of this convention will be held in the Phythian

assembly hall in the Kiser building, one beginning at 3 o'clock in

the afternoon and the other at 8 o'clock at night. The afternoon

session will be devoted to business, and will be attended by

delegates from every Pythian lodge in the fifth congressional

district. The night session will be devoted exclusively to the

promotion of sociability and good fellowship. To this evening

session every Knights of Pythias in reach of the convention hall is

invited to be present:

Among those invited to speak at this convention are

Supreme Chancellor Thomas J. Carling, Grand, Chancellor Miller S.

Bell, Past Grand Chancellors James W. Austin, Frank A. Hooper

and Hamilton Douglas. The program in detail will be announced

later.

PAGE 53, COLUMN 4

FRANK JURORS TO

OFFER

CHARACTER

AFFIDAVITS

Hearing Set for

Wednesday"Af-

fidavits to Be

Submitted for

Henslee and

Johenning.

Affidavits attesting the character and standing of A. H.

Henslee and M. Johenning, the two jurors in the Leo M. Frank case

accused of expressing personal animus before the trial, will be

part of the defense which Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey will

submit at the hearing Wednesday morning before Judge L. S.

Roan.

The date of hearing was definitely set as Wednesday when

attorneys representing the state and the defense appeared

Saturday before Judge Roan. Every indication is that the motion

will be settled next week, at least as far as the superior court is

concerned.

Solicitor Dorsey and Attorneys Frank A. Hooper and E. A.

Stephens held a lengthy conference Saturday afternoon with

Jurors Henslee and Johenning and both the men swore to

affidavits, denying the charges of bias. At that time they also

made preparations for the affidavits from other citizens as to their

character and reputation.

Dorsey Seeks Jurors Affidavits.

The solicitor has been working for over a week to get

affidavits from each of the jurors, denying that they were

influenced by the cheering for the solicitor, which took place

several times toward the close of the trial, and by which the

defense claims the jurors must have been influenced.

Juror J. V. L. Smith, who recently was notified that he was

heir to a small fortune, is now in New York in the interests of his

claim and the solicitor secured his address and mailed him an

affidavit for him to fill out and swear to before a notary or

commissioner.

Both the state and the defense are anxious to end the case

this week. Attorney Luther Z. Rosser declared in court Saturday

that unless the motion was heard at once that it would have to be

put off for a while, as he had other cases that were pressing him.

The solicitor also is anxious to get down to work on the scores of

other cases which are congesting the court docket.

New Evidence Coming.

Both sides agreed to submit to each other before the case is

taken up various papers which they have prepared and which

have not been made public. It is stated that both sides have

additional evidence to be produced at the hearing and which has

not been filed with the clerk of the court.

Judge Roan also urged haste in bringing up the motion,

saying that he felt it necessary to take his place on the court

appeals bench and allow Judge Benjamin H. Hill to become a

member of the Fulton superior court.

The fight, which is set for Wednesday, is expected to be a

long and bitter one and the various technical errors which Judge

Roan is alleged to have made on rulings which the defense

protested, will call for a great deal of argument and also for the

citing of many authorities and records of the decisions of the

supreme courts.

The fight over the charges against the two jurors will also

take up much time and may involve lengthy arguments before it

is finished.

A bound volume about two feet thick and representing all

the evidence taken in the previous case in which Frank was

convicted for the murder of Mary Phagan, was filled Saturday with

Deputy Clerk John H. Jones. This was formally placed on the court

records by the defense and was the typewritten transcript of the

court stenographer's notes.