You Are There: Atlanta Journal, July 27th, 1913 – Little Mary Phagan

Leo M. Frank Will Go to Trial Monday, It Is Now Believed

Atlanta Journal
July 27th, 1913

Indications Were Saturday Night That the Trial Would Begin Before Judge Roan at Hour Scheduled

BOTH SIDES READY AND BITTER FIGHT IS CERTAIN

Many Well Known Citizens In Venire From Whom the Twelve Jurors Will Be Chosen for Trial

If both sides answer ready when the clerk "sounds" the case of the "State of Georgia versus Leo M. Frank" in the criminal division of the superior court at 9 o'clock Monday morning, what is expected to be the most brilliant as well as one of the most bitter legal fights in the criminal history of the state will have commenced.

The stage has been set for the trial, and on the eve of the battle there was no intimation from any one in authority that the trial would not actually be commenced. For weeks the state and defense have been preparing for the struggle, which is to come Monday, and only an extraordinary motion from the defense, which is not now expected, will delay the trial.

Leo M. Frank, Cornell graduate and man of education and refinement, is charged with the murder of Mary Phagan, a fourteen-year-old factory girl, whose lifeless body was found in the basement of the National Pencil factory, of which he is superintendent, on April 27 by a negro night watchman.

ARRAY OF COUNSEL.

In charge of his defense are two of the ablest lawyers in the south, Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold. Both are attorneys who have established enviable reputations for their knowledge of the law and their ability before a jury. Many victories and few defeats in famous causes, civil and criminal, go to make the record of both of the attorneys.

Opposed to them will be Hugh M. Dorsey, solicitor general of the Atlanta circuit, and Frank A. Hooper, who served as a solicitor general in a south Georgia circuit for many years.

Solicitor Dorsey was pitted against Mr. Rosser in the Grace case, and while he lost, he preyed himself a prosecutor of marked ability, and attorneys who watched that trial were loud in their praise of the manner in which he handled his case.

Mr. Hooper is little known here, but the statement of Americus attorneys who practiced criminal law there, that they were glad when his term expired, is a real tribute to his ability.

Those familiar with the evidence in the case do not expect the Frank trial to be complete for at least two weeks.

BOTH SIDES HARD AT WORK.

Attorneys for both the state and the defense worked until late Saturday afternoon preparing their cases. This was taken to indicate that both sides expected that the trial would go forward as scheduled.

Solicitor Dorsey was closeted for several hours with Attorney Hooper and E. A. Stephens, assistant to the solicitor. At 5 o'clock they had arranged and indexed all their papers and files and strapped them into bundles. The solicitor announced that he was ready for the trial to begin.

Attorneys Rosser and Arnold, counsel for the defense, were in consultation the greater part of Saturday afternoon. They went carefully over the details of their case and discussed the evidence of the defense at some length. Neither Mr. Rosser nor Mr. Arnold have intimated whether it is their intention to go on with the trial or to ask for a postponement. It is generally believed however, that they will announce ready when court is convened Monday morning.

THE FIRST FIGHT.

Subpoenas duces tecum have been served on the solicitor general and many city detectives and other officials commanding them to produce all three of the Conley affidavits and affidavits from many other state witnesses. Over these subpoenas will probably come the first fight, as the solicitor is not expected to surrender the affidavits without a contest.

It became known Saturday night that the state subpoenaed a number of negroes who claim to have been with Conley on the afternoon of April 26, after Mary Phagan is supposed to have been murdered. This indicated that the state will endeavor to corroborate those parts of Conley's story which redate to his movements outside the factory after he claims to have helped Frank hide Mary Phagan's body in the cellar of the pencil factory.

Two of these negroes will testify, it is said, that Conley entered a near beer saloon close by the pencil factory about 1:30 and found them there and drank with them, then offered to set 'em up, but on their refusal drank alone.

These negroes will testify, it is said, that Conley was not nervous nor drunk at that time, and that they walked several blocks with him, he turning off into a street which led to his home.

Then will come the choosing of the twelve men who will decide whether Leo M. Frank is guilty or innocent.

The choosing of a jury is expected to consume all of the first day of the trial, and probably part of the second day.

The venire for the trial consists of 144 names, and probably twenty of them for one reason or another will not be in court. Another twenty or more will be excused because they are conscientiously opposed to capital punishment.

So widely discussed has been the Frank case that it is expected that many veniremen will be excused because they have formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused.

SELECTING THE JURY.

While there are only thirty peremptory strikes, ten for the state and twenty for the defense, it is generally believed that they will not have been exhausted and that all twelve jurors will not have been chosen when the venire has been exhausted.

This will mean that talesmen will have to be hastily summoned into court by the sheriffs before the jury can be completed.

The names of the veniremen were drawn by Judge John T. Pendleton, of the superior court, last Thursday, and among them are a number of leading Atlanta citizens. In fact, the venire contains an unusual number of men who are prominent in Atlanta and Fulton county.

HERE ARE VENIREMEN.

C. A. Virgin.

J. D. Hardy, B. R.

J. M. Defoore, E. P.

Bud Waits, C. P.

W. W. Sorrells, Hapeville.

Sol Benjamin, 348 Whitehall street.

P. H. Miller, Peachtree.

C. J. Bosshardt, No. 215 Bryan street.

W. S. Copelan, Oak Grove.

O. T. Camp, No. 309 Oakland avenue.

A. W. Brewerton, 45 W. Peachtree Pl

F. W. Stone, No. 82 East Linden street.

W. H. Dunne, not in directory (probably Wynne).

W. A. Abercrombie, Blackhall.

R. G. Elliott, Atlanta Agricultural Works, Glendale.

T. C. Lauren, No. 13 Decatur street.

L. E. Smith, Hapeville.

C. T. Hopkins, Jr., 403 N. Boulevard.

W. D. Cates, South Bend.

R. F. Shedden, Mutual Life of New York, Grant Bldg. 20 East Linden Ave.

T. G. Young, Georgia Railway and Power Company, 42 Loomis avenue.

D. D. Henry, 178 Oakland avenue.

Howard Oliver, B. R.

H. E. Lackey, 4 Rosedale avenue.

James F. Hast, Collins.

Alfred Barilll, Jr., Grant Building.

O. L. Spurlin, 155 Lawton street.

A. H. Henslee, No. 74 Oak street.

Thomas D. Meador, Imperial Hotel.

R. E. Biggers, 745 Glenn, carpenter.

F. V. L. Smith, Empire Building, No. 481 Cherokee avenue.

R. L. Cliett, No. 58 Boulevard place.

H. R. Callaway, 691 Piedmont Ave.

A. J. Shide, No. 45 Lucy street.

F. A. Hull, 60 Milledge, 130 Grant.

Edward E. Hawkins, Collins.

H. D. Hurlbut.

S. J. McDowell, No. 80 Waddell.

W. W. Brown, No. 107 Peachtree place or No. 217 Glennwood avenue.

Edwin F. Johnson, Appeal Publishing Company, 176 West Peachtree.

J. L. Fulghum, Hapeville.

W. C. Willis, E. P.

H. C. Hasty, No. 261 Jones avenue.

George R. Law, No. 4 Whitehall street, residence No. 205 Ashby.

F. M. York, No. 221 Cooper street.

A. H. Cook, 252 E. Georgia avenue.

Chas. H. Candler, 114 Elizabeth St.

George R. Wall, No. 139 Hill street.

S. C. Owens, E. P.

J. C. Henderson, 413 Piedmont ave.

J. W. Heinsman.

D. M. Brown, College Park.

W. J. Brooks, 234 East Fair St.

R. J. Baldwin, Hapeville.

D. Townsend, 84 Whitehall terrace.

R. A. Thompson, 152 Ashby street.

C. C. Thorne, 135 East North Ave.

C. A. Vaughn, Collins.

R. A. Palmer, No. 68 Austin avenue.

Ben F. Willis, Cooks.

C. M. Patten, Hapeville.

Carl Weinmeister, 27 Elbert St.

S. L. Miller, No. 27 Fraser street.

Henry L. Solmonson, 71 Sells Ave.

C. S. Johnson, 140 Gaskill street.

L. A. Hendon, 91 West Fifth street.

W. S. Medcalf, not in directory.

Homer C. Ashford, 83 East Fifth St.

E. C. Wachendorff, 22 Willow St.

Nicholas Ittner, 234 Forrest Ave.

J. C. Harrison, 304 Capitol Ave.

W. H. Hudson, 298 Myrtle St.

H. Maness, rooms No. 47 Bell street.

G. R. Jilner, not in directory.

John S. Head, Oak Grove.

C. H. Allen, not in directory.

V. N. Carroll, 1292-A Marietta St.

Robert Schmidt, 195 Angler Ave.

T. F. Barber, 281 E. Georgia Ave.

H. B. Chamberlain, Peachtree Dis.

O. Wingate, 328 Edgewood Ave.

T. E. Winslow, 29 Boulevard Ter.

C. A. Withers, 15 Simpson St.

A. W. Wafford, not in directory.

W. F. Burdett, Buckhead.

H. H. Kelly, Blackhall.

M. A. Lang, not in directory.

John W. Bowin, Collins.

C. W. Gittens, Hapeville.

H. T. Ferguson, 332 E. Georgia Ave.

W. L. Merk, No. 108 Grant street.

G. F. Hardy, 514 St. Charles.

F. E. Walker, 610 North Boulevard.

E. L. Connally, No. 53 Ashby street

T. B. Sale, 136 N. Moreland avenue.

Elmo Moore E.

W. S. Gaston, 481 Whitehall.

C. L. Asbury, No. 44 Park avenue.

J. W. Chatham, rooms 132 Jones.

C. W. Seagraves, Collins.

J. A. McCrary, 78 E. North ave.

L. A. Helms, rooms 253 Forrest ave.

T. J. Henderson, 25 Woodson.

L. F. Davis, 148 Bellwood ave.

David Woodward, 635 Peachtree.

J. E. Betterton, College Park.

J. H. Holcomb, Oakland City.

M. J. Sewell, East Point.

J. F. Higdon, 108 Ormond.

F. E. Winburn, 213 Lucile ave.

Chas. Witherspoon, No. 23 Vedado way.

Walter H. Scott, No. 215 Gordon.

H. J. Kuglar, South Bend.

T. J. Hale, South Bend.

J. P. Hays, South Bend.

A. L. Wisbey, No. 31 Hood street.

E. L. Winn, 1210 Peachtree.

Joel Hurt, No. 85 Elizabeth.

W. H. Abbott, No. 224 Rawson.

K. P. Mason, Peachtree.

W. M. Jeffries, Collins.

Boyd Perry, 537 N. Boulevard.

M. Johenning, rooms 161 Jones ave.

M. S. Woodward, No. 182 Park.

Samuel Schoen, 214 Washington.

W. F. Wingleton, not in directory.

Earl Davis, Collins.

C. F. Cantrell.

W. M. Donehoo, Buckhead.

John W. Woodruff, 58 Cooper.

David W. Perdu, Collins.

George Machieson, Buckhead.

S. J. Hayles, 20 Flat Shoals ave.

John W. Alexander, 439 S. Pryor.

John W. Collier, 81 Washington.

J. E. Redd, not in directory.

Y. R. Norris, Blackhall.

W. W. Hammett, 34 Decatur.

A. F. Bellingrath, 91 Milledge ave.

D. Berger, No. 380 Capitol ave.

E. A. Massa, No. 305 E. Fair.

J. T. Osburn, not in directory

J. H. Gilbert, South Bend.

H. H. Jones, 69 E. Ashland ave.