The Leo Frank Case
Murder in Georgia - 1913
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The Murderer
Leo Frank was a New York, Cornell-educated Jew, who was living in Atlanta. Leo was President of his local B'nai B'rith, active in civic affairs, a local socialite, and Phagan's supervisor at the National Pencil Factory. Frank was sexual pervert, who was homosexual,and preyed on young girls. He forced employees to have sex with him.
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The Witness |
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The murder
12 years old |
April 26th, 1913 - Leo Frank had Conley "watch out" for him while he "chatted" with Mary Phagan. Frank demanded sex, and Phagan refused. Next, Frank in cocaine induced rage, beat her mercilessly. He then pulled her underwear off, tied it around her throat, and raped her. After Frank finished he strangled her to death with the cord. |
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Newt Lee |
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Screaming
Another woman reported that she was walking outside the factory around 4:30 PM when she heard three piercing screams come from the basement of the building.
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The Prosecutor |
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Body Exhumed Second Time |
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Family Cook Testifies About Frank's Confession And Attempted Bribery |
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Minola McKnight |
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Lucille Frank |
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Witnesses Tampering Revealed |
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Devastating witness
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On the witness stand, Jim Conley was devastating. According to Conley, Frank had confessed the murder to him and had tried to get him, (Conley), to burn the body in the factory's basement furnace. Frank's lawyers were unable to shake Conley's story.
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John Starnes |
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Harry Scott |
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Frank's mother |
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Leo Frank Testifies |
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He never saw Jim Conley that day. Frank concluded his statement thus: "Some newspaper man has called me 'the silent man in the Tower.' (for his unwillingness to talk to police or the press) Gentlemen, this is the time and here is the place! I have told you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." |
Prosecutor's final argument |
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Governor flees for his life
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He was influenced by his law partners, who represented Frank. Either way, Slaton's act was political suicide. He was forced to leave the country in fear for his own life. |
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Calling themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan, they cut the telephone lines, surprised the guards and entered the barrack of Leo Frank, who two years earlier had been convicted of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in one of the most infamous trials of the century. The intruders seized Frank and departed back to Marietta. |
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