The Leo Frank Case: The Lynching of a Guilty Man Part 2

The Leo Frank Case: The Lynching of a Guilty Man Part 2

Frank arrived at the Forsyth Street factory at about 8:30 a.m. and attended to routine paperwork in his second-floor office. Frank expected the few who had missed it to come on Saturday 23rd. Mary Phagan had asked her friend and coworker Helen Ferguson to pick up the $1.20 due her on Friday —just as she had on two past occasions—but this time Helen was told by Leo Frank, “I can`t let you have it,” so Mary would have to come herself the next day to be paid. By Saturday noon several factory employees had arrived, taken care of their business with Frank, and departed. A Black janitor named James “Jim” Conley was stationed on the first floor, and Frank was alone on the second floor in his office when Mary Phagan arrived shortly after noon. The cord was wound so tightly that it remained embedded in her neck when the undertaker later removed Mary`s body from the factory.

It was then, prosecutors say, that a panicked Leo Frank summoned the factory`s Black janitor James Conley, swore him to secrecy, and ordered him to help move the body to the basement. Conley and Frank carried Mary`s body to the elevator, and upon reaching the basement, dragged her body across the dirt floor to a final resting place near a trash pile by the furnace. Both men then returned to Frank`s second-floor office, where he gave Conley a pad of paper and ordered him to write as Frank dictated. Frank then ordered Conley to return later that day to burn the girl`s remains in the basement furnace, promising him a cash reward and threatening to put the notes by the body.

Conley left the factory, never to return that day. Frank returned to the factory at approximately 3:00 p. m. and waited in vain for Conley, and unable to incinerate the body himself, left two cryptic notes next to the dead girl.

At 4:00 p. m., another Black employee, night watchman Newt Lee, arrived at the factory to work his overnight shift. Lee used his key to pass through, but Frank rushed from his office to inform Lee that he did not need him until 6:00p.m. Lee asked if he could stay in the factory to rest for the next two hours. Moments later a white former employee named James Gantt arrived at the front door unexpectedly and asked to retrieve some shoes he said he had left at the factory. Gantt countered that he had left two pairs, whereupon Frank relented and allowed his former bookkeeper into the factory, but ordered Lee to escort him as Frank left for home.

Less than an hour later at 7:00 p. m. Frank called Lee at the factory and asked if everything was all right, something he had not done before. Frank would later claim that he had called the factory to make sure that James Gantt had left.

But Lee testified that Frank did not ask about Gantt. At 3:00 a. m. Sunday morning, Lee again made his hourly rounds, and while in the basement he noticed a strange heap in the distance that appeared to be a body.

Lee then called the police, who arrived at the factory within minutes. The investigating officers found that the body, clothing, and face of Mary Phagan were dirty from having been dragged across the filthy basement floor. The police immediately arrested the Black night watchman, Newt Lee. Soon thereafter, as leads and information surfaced, they arrested the fired white employee who had come for his shoes, James Gantt; a former streetcar conductor and friend of Mary`s named Arthur Mullinax; and a 19-year-old Black elevator operator at the factory named Gordon Bailey.

Two days later they arrested him for the murder of Mary Phagan. Indeed, night watchman Newt Lee was charged with the crime whilst standing in the basement, after leading police to the body. Lee`s arrival at the factory long after the estimated time of Mary Phagan`s death, his calm and cooperative demeanor, and the brutality of this “most foul and unnatural murder” troubled authorities and forced a retreat from their knee-jerk ritual. Adding to their concern was the noticeably nervous demeanor of factory superintendent Leo Frank, the last person to see Mary Phagan alive.

On this, the 105th anniversary of Mary Phagan’s death, we at The American Mercury are proud to present part 2 of our audio version of this very important book, read by Vanessa Neubauer.

To read all the chapters we’ve published so far, simply click on this link.

Simply press “play” on the player embedded above or at the end of this article to hear part 2 of the book.

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The Jewish community in the United States are still trying to get Leo Frank the Jewish rapist and murderer exonerated.

The best two books on the Leo Frank case are:

1. The Murder of Little Mary Phagan by Mary Phagan Kean

2. The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, Vol. 3; The Leo Frank Case: The Lynching of a Guilty Man.

For further information on the Nation of Islam Historical Research Group, readers are encouraged to visit their Web site, noirg.org.