Wednesday, 1st April 1914: The Frank Trial, Chicago Tribune., The Atlanta Journal

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Leo M. Frank was convicted of murder in Atlanta when, admittedly, the public mind was inflamed. Authorities are sensitive to such conditions, and the reaction is not always in the direction of justice. The possibility opens for legalized lynch law. Judgment may be warped, prejudices rule, passions prevail over justice, and a victim be found to whom no guilt is attached. This is worse than a crime of mob violence. Mobs may be swayed by passion, but not the State. The evidence against Frank is pronounced by fair examiners to be uncertain, if not worthless. Sentiment is changing. The community is not seeking a victim.

A retrial of Leo Frank is needed if the state of Georgia is not to have in its criminal court records the case of a man who went to the gallows, although he might have been innocent, and who did not have a fair chance to defend himself.