Lucille and Leo Frank at Frank's trial.

Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884 – August 17, 1915) was an American Jew, whose lynching by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia, in 1915 turned the spotlight on anti-Semitism in the United States and led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League.^[1] Leo Frank is the name of: Leo Frank (1884-1915), American Jew who was lynched Leo Frank (writer) (1925-2004), Austrian writer Leo Frank (painter) (1884-1956), Austrian painter Category: ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (678x900, 83 KB)Leo Frank at his trial, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (678x900, 83 KB)Leo Frank at his trial, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Postcard depicting the lynching of Lige Daniels, Center, Texas, August 3, 1920. ... Historic Downtown Marietta Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia GR6, and is its county seat. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... The Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) is an advocacy group founded by Bnai Brith in the United States whose stated aim is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. ...

Frank, the manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia, was convicted on the basis of circumstantial and direct evidence of murdering an employee, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. The case is widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice.^[2] The trial was sensationalized by the media, which promoted fantastic stories about orgies and rape at the factory. The Georgia politician and publisher Tom Watson used the case to build support for the renewal of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been destroyed by the federal government in the early 1870s.^[3] Atlanta redirects here. ... Thomas Edward Watson (5 September 1856–26 September 1922), generally known as Tom Watson, was a United States politician from Georgia. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ...

Shortly after Frank's conviction, new evidence emerged that cast doubt on his guilt. The governor commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment, but Frank was kidnapped from prison by a group of prominent citizens calling itself "The Knights of Mary Phagan", and hanged.^[4] The mob is reported to have included the son of a senator, a former governor, lawyers, and a prosecutor.^[5] A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Childhood

Leo Frank was born in Cuero, Texas, to Rudolf and Rae Frank. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, shortly after his birth. He was a student at Brooklyn Public Schools and Pratt Institute, eventually attending Cornell University.^[6][7] Cuero is a city located in DeWitt County, Texas. ... This article is about the borough of New York City. ... This article is about the state. ... Pratt Institute is a specialized, private college in New York City with campuses in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as in Utica, New York. ... Cornell redirects here. ...

Background

Leo Frank and Lucille Selig, 1909, a year before their marriage.

At the time, Atlanta had a large Jewish population, which had become highly assimilated under the leadership of Reform rabbi David Marx, and the Franks were part of its upper economic stratum. His father was a German-born physician who had worked as a postmaster and salesman in the United States. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (452x616, 41 KB)Leo and Lucille Frank, ca. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (452x616, 41 KB)Leo and Lucille Frank, ca. ... Reform Judaism can refer to (1) the largest denomination of American Jews and its sibling movements in other countries, (2) a branch of Judaism in the United Kingdom, and (3) the historical predecessor of the American movement that originated in 19th-century Germany. ...

Frank received an engineering degree at Cornell in 1906, and married Lucille Selig in 1910. Lucille came from a wealthy family of industrialists who had founded the first synagogue in Atlanta two generations earlier. An uncle of Frank's was a Confederate veteran who owned a large percentage of National Pencil Factory, and it was through him that Frank ended up as the factory's superintendent. Frank was highly qualified, and had traveled to Massachusetts, New York, and Germany for further apprenticeships in pencil manufacturing. He was president of a local chapter of the B'nai Brith, and the Franks moved in a cultured and privileged milieu of tennis, bridge, and opera. Cornell redirects here. ... Motto Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God, Our Vindicator) Anthem (none official) God Save the South (unofficial) The Bonnie Blue Flag (unofficial) Dixie (unofficial) Capital Montgomery, Alabama (until May 29, 1861) Richmond, Virginia (May 29, 1861–April 2, 1865) Danville, Virginia (from April 3, 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Religion... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of skilled crafts practitioners, which is still popular in some countries. ... Bnai Brith Membership Certificate, 1876. ...

Mary Phagan

Mary Phagan had begun working from a young age to support her widowed mother and five siblings.^[8] By age thirteen, when she died, Phagan was living in an Atlanta suburb. The week before her murder, a shortage of supplies at the factory had led to a reduction in her hours, and she was paid only $1.20. On April 26, 1913, (known locally as Confederate Memorial Day), she came in to the factory to claim her pay before going to see the parade. Her pay was issued to her by Frank. Mary Phagan, 1915 photo This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... Mary Phagan, 1915 photo This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... Mary Phagan, age 13 Mary Phagan (June 1, 1900 - April 26, 1913), born in Marietta, Georgia was an employee of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta, on the premises of which she was raped and strangled on April 26, 1913. ... is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Confederate Memorial Day, also known as Confederate Decoration Day (Tennessee) and Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), is a holiday in parts of the United States. ...

Murder investigation

A political cartoon, Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1913. Atlanta carries a newspaper with the headline "Mary Phagan Mystery," and asks "I wonder if they're all asleep in there?"

At three in the morning on April 27, the police received a call from the factory's night watchman, Newt Lee, saying that he had found the body of a dead white girl. The Atlanta police force in this period was poorly trained, badly equipped, and had a reputation for corruption, having just undergone a scandal involving the framing of a man for murder following a personal dispute with a police officer.^{[citation needed]} New members of the police force were put on the job with only a week of formal training.^{[citation needed]} There was no fingerprint lab, and the force was not yet motorized.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links political cartoon about the Mary Phagan murder, Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links political cartoon about the Mary Phagan murder, Atlanta Constitution, May 11, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

When the police arrived, they found Phagan's body in a dark, filthy basement littered with coal dust and pencil shavings. Phagan's body was so dirty that some officers initially believed she was black, and they had to pull down one of her stockings to verify her race. She had been strangled with a 3/4-inch cord, which was still around her neck, and blood was still flowing from her genital region when the body was discovered. Some evidence at the crime scene was lost, including bloody fingerprints, and a trail in the dirt that would have shown where Phagan had been dragged from. Frank initially said that Lee's time card, which was supposed to be punched every half hour as he made his rounds at night, was complete, but he later declared that it had not been punched in three places. A stocking is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and lower part of the leg, but usually not intended to conceal the leg. ...

The police initially investigated a variety of suspects, and arrested both Newt Lee and a young friend of Phagan's for the crime, but gradually became convinced that they were not the culprits. A detective sneaked into Lee's apartment and found a blood-soaked shirt, but the blood was on the inside, and the shirt appeared to have been newly pressed; the prosecution later claimed that the shirt had been planted by Frank in order to incriminate Lee. Although suspicion did not initially fall on Frank, the police later noted that he had not answered the phone when they called his house at 4 a.m., and that he seemed extremely nervous when they arrived at his house before dawn and took him to the factory. He gave extremely detailed answers to the police on some minor points, and was trembling so strongly that he could not carry out simple physical tasks. However, when the police had arrived at his house, they had refused to tell him the nature of their investigation, a fact Frank brought up at his trial to explain his nervous reaction.

One of the "murder notes."

The Atlanta Constitution broke the story, but there was soon a frenzied competition between the Constitution and the Georgian, a formerly sedate local paper that had recently been bought by the Hearst syndicate and revamped to compete using the standard Hearst formula of yellow journalism. By some counts, as many as 40 extra editions came out the day of Phagan's murder. The Georgian published a doctored morgue photo of Phagan, in which her head was shown spliced onto the body of another girl. Some evidence went missing when it was "borrowed" from the police by reporters. The two papers offered a total of $1,800 in reward money for information leading to the apprehension of the murderer, and this led to many false or irrelevant leads being given to the police. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (484x716, 64 KB)Mary Phagan murder note File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (484x716, 64 KB)Mary Phagan murder note File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other people named William Randolph Hearst, see William Randolph Hearst (disambiguation) William Randolph Hearst I (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate. ... Nasty little printers devils spew forth from the Hoe press in this Puck cartoon of Nov. ...

Two notes were found in the plant, supposedly written by Phagan as she was dying and accusing a "Negro" of killing her. These came to be known as the "murder notes." Jim Conley, the plant's black janitor, later claimed that the notes were dictated to him by Frank. The text of the notes was: Negro is a racial term referring to dark-skinned people, usually of African origin. ... Lucille and Leo Frank at Franks trial. ...

Mam that negro hire down here did this i went to make water and he push me doun that hole a long negro black that hoo it was long sleam tall negro i wright while play with me.

He said he wood love me and land doun play like night witch did it but that long tall black negro did buy his slef.

Suspicion falls on Frank

Phagan's friend, 15-year-old newsboy George Epps, came forward to say that Frank had flirted with Phagan and had frightened her:

"She began talking about Mr. Frank. When she would leave the factory on some afternoons, she said, Frank would rush out in front of her and try to flirt with her as she passed. She told me that he had often winked at her and tried to pay her attention. He would look hard and straight at her, she said, and then would smile. It happened often, she said. She told me she wanted me to come down to the factory when she got off as often as I could to escort her home and kinder protect her."

The Hearst papers, meanwhile, invented a completely fictional version of the basement:

"Pictures of Salome dancers in scanty raiment and of chorus girls in different postures adorned the walls of the National Pencil Company plant."

The Constitution published a story stating that a private detective, Robert House, had seen Frank take a girl to an isolated, wooded spot in the city, and had said, One of the illustrations Aubrey Beardsley produced for the first English edition of Wildes play Salome (1894) Salome (or in French: Salomé) is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde The original 1891 version of the play was in French. ...

"I don't want you to see the girl. I admit that we're here for immoral purpose. Please don't make a case against us or arrest us. It would disgrace us both. We will leave instantly."

The pastor of the Baptist church that the Phagan family attended wrote: "My feelings, upon the arrest of the old negro watchman, were to the effect that this one old negro would be poor atonement for the life of this innocent girl. But, when on the next day, the police arrested a Jew, and a Yankee Jew at that, all of the inborn prejudice against Jews rose up in a feeling of satisfaction, that here would be a victim worthy to pay for the crime." (Dinnerstein, The Leo Frank Case, p 33.)

The madam of a bordello, Nina Formby, told the police that on the night of the murder, Frank, a frequent customer, had called her asking if she had a room in which he could get rid of Phagan's body. However, Formby skipped town soon after her statement and recanted it from New York, saying that the police had gotten her drunk and offered her money to say it. The police, in an intense grilling, also persuaded the Franks' housekeeper to change her statement helping to establish Frank's alibi, but she recanted her statement immediately. Prostitution is the sale of sexual services (typically manual stimulation, oral sex, sexual intercourse, or anal sex) for cash or other kind of return, generally indiscriminately with many persons. ...

A newspaper headline trumpeting Frank's guilt.

Frank hired two Pinkerton detectives to help him prove his innocence, which was interpreted in a sinister light by many observers, especially since the Pinkerton agency had a reputation as the violent enforcers for American industrialists. Frank produced alibis for the entire time during which the crime could have been committed, but suspicion was aroused by the fact that he waited a week to bring forward one crucial witness, Lemmie Quinn, saying that he had forgotten. Gradually, however, the Georgian began to take Frank's side, responding to outrage from Atlanta's Jewish community at what they saw as a grave injustice being committed. Meanwhile, the Constitution continued to criticize the police for their lack of progress. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (912x468, 101 KB)newspaper headline trumpeting the arrest of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (912x468, 101 KB)newspaper headline trumpeting the arrest of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Pinkerton guards escort strikebreakers in Buchtel, Ohio, 1884 The Pinkerton National Detective Agency was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. ...

Jimmy Conley

Jim Conley, 1913.

On May 1, Jimmy Conley, age 29, the pencil factory's janitor, was caught by the plant's day watchman, E.F. Holloway, washing a shirt. Conley tried to hide the shirt, and when that didn't work, he claimed that the stains on the shirt were from rust. Conley also lied under oath about the fact that he had had a grade-school education, and could read and write, a datum that became crucial later with regard to the murder notes. He had a record of drinking and violence, serving one sentence on the chain gang; a report that he had fired a gun at his wife was newspaper gossip, but it is unmentioned in his official records. Image File history File links James Conley, confessed murderer of Mary Phagan, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links James Conley, confessed murderer of Mary Phagan, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Holloway told the Georgian that he was "thoroughly convinced" that Conley "strangled Mary Phagan while about half drunk," resulting in a May 28 headline reading "SUSPICION TURNED TO CONLEY; ACCUSED BY FACTORY FOREMAN." Seeing the headline, Conley provided a new story, in which he stated that an agitated Frank, in a dramatic meeting in the dark, made him hide in a wardrobe to avoid being seen by two women, dictated the murder notes to him, gave him cigarettes, and told him to leave the factory. Afterward, he went out drinking and saw a movie. Inexplicably, the statement seemed to show no awareness that a crime had been committed. Phagan's $1.20 in pay had also disappeared, leading the police to wonder if Conley might have killed her for the money. The police asked Frank to confront Conley, but Frank refused because his lawyer was out of town. Even when Rosser returned, no meeting took place. is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Under further pressure from the police about the discrepancies in his story, Conley gave another version of his story. In this version, Frank asked Conley for help in moving Phagan's body, and gave Conley $200. When the police asked where the $200 was, Conley added an addendum to his statement saying that Frank had taken it back. In this statement and at the trial, Conley attributed two statements to Frank that seem unnatural for him to have uttered. He said that Frank had previously told him that Frank wasn't "built like other men," an apparent reference to Conley's vague understanding of the Jewish custom of circumcision, and an unlikely statement from Frank to his Negro janitor. Conley also said that Frank told him on the day of the murder, "Why should I hang, I have wealthy people in Brooklyn." Look up addendum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about male circumcision. ... Hanging is the suspension of a person by a ligature, usually a cord wrapped around the neck, causing death. ...

William Smith, the lawyer who represented Conley yet offered circumstantial evidence implicating Conley in the murder.

The Georgian obtained William Smith to be Conley's lawyer, offering to pay all his fees. Smith was known as a "nigger lawyer" because he specialized in representing black clients. Although this put Smith at the bottom of the professional totem pole, he had successfully defended a black man against an accusation of rape by a white woman, and had also taken an elderly black woman's civil case as far as the state Supreme Court. Although Smith believed Conley had told the truth in his third affidavit, he became concerned that Conley was giving long jailhouse interviews with crowds of reporters, including reporters from the Hearst papers, who Smith now realized had really taken up Frank's side. He arranged for Conley to be moved to a different jail, severing his potentially lucrative relationship with the Georgian. Image File history File links William Smith, Jim Conleys lawyer in the trial of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links William Smith, Jim Conleys lawyer in the trial of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... William Smith is the name of: William Smith (1697–1769), father of John Smith, Doctor Thomas Smith, Joshua Hett Smith, and Chief Justice William Smith William Smith (abolitionist) (1756–1835), dissenter and British M.P. whose constituencies included Camelford, Sudbury, and Norwich William Smith (actor) (born 1934) William Smith (boxer... Civil action redirects here. ... The Supreme Court of Georgia is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. State of Georgia. ... An affidavit is a formal sworn statement of fact, signed by the declarant (who is called the affiant), and witnessed (as to the veracity of the affiants signature) by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public. ...

Two witnesses came forward to incriminate Conley. Will Green, a carnival worker, said that he had been playing craps at the factory with Conley, and had run away when Conley had declared his intention to rob a girl who walked by. William Mincey, an insurance salesman, had met a drunk Conley on the street; Conley, trying to brush Mincey off, said, "I have killed one today and do not wish to kill another," but Mincey had thought it was a joke. Neither man testified in court.^[9] Craps (previously known as crabs[1]) is a casino dice game. ...

Trial

The first day of the trial. The area shown in the photo was surrounded by racially segregated seats for spectators. The stenographer can be seen squatting next to Newt Lee, who is being questioned by prosecutor Hugh Dorsey.

On May 24, 1913, a murder indictment was returned against Frank by a grand jury that included four Jews^{[citation needed]}. After the panel's term expired in July, there was considerable sentiment, even among some members of the new panel, for indicting Conley, but in the end Conley was not indicted. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (996x852, 129 KB)first day of the trial of Leo Frank, 1915, testimony of Newt Lee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (996x852, 129 KB)first day of the trial of Leo Frank, 1915, testimony of Newt Lee File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 144th day of the year (145th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Frank's trial began on July 28. Because of the heat, the windows were left open, and in addition to the hundreds of spectators inside, a mob gathered outside the city hall to watch the trial through the windows, a circumstance that became important later. The prosecutor was Hugh Dorsey. Frank was represented by eight lawyers (some of them jury selection specialists), led by Luther Rosser. Several jurors initially lied about having previously stated opinions about the case, and were disqualified when their lies were detected. The defense used peremptory challenges to eliminate the only two black jurors. is the 209th day of the year (210th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Hugh Manson Dorsey (July 10, 1871 – June 11, 1948) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician. ... Peremptory challenge usually refers to a right in jury selection for the defense and prosecution to reject a certain number of potential jurors who appear to have an unfavorable bias without having to give any reason. ...

Lead defense lawyer Luther Rosser.

The prosecution's theory was that Conley's last affidavit was true, Frank was the murderer, and the murder notes had been dictated by Frank in an effort to pin the crime on Newt Lee. The defense's theory was that Conley was the murderer, and Lee helped Conley write the notes. The case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, and much of it was contradictory. The defense brought a large number of witnesses who attested to Frank's alibi, leaving him without enough time to have committed the crime. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (492x630, 41 KB)Luther Rosser, lead defense attorney for Leo Frank, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (492x630, 41 KB)Luther Rosser, lead defense attorney for Leo Frank, 1913 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Circumstantial evidence is lesbian sex with a huge glass dildo unrelated facts that, when considered together, can be used to infer a conclusion about something unknown. ...

Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey.

Conley reiterated his testimony from his final affidavit, but added to it by describing Frank as regularly having sex with women in his upstairs office on Saturdays while Conley kept a lookout. Another witness, who, like Conley, had a criminal record, testified to the same thing. Conley testified that Frank had told him he wasn't "built like other men," and that he had seen women performing oral sex on Frank in his office. Although Conley admitted that he had changed his story and lied repeatedly, this did not damage the prosecution's case as much as might have been expected. Conley admitted to being an accessory, so it wasn't surprising that he had lied at first. Also, many white observers did not believe that a black man could have been intelligent enough to make up such a complicated story; the Georgian said, "Many people are arguing to themselves that the negro, no matter how hard he tried or how generously he was coached, still never could have framed up a story like the one he told unless there was some foundation in fact." Conley intentionally hid his education, lying about his ability to read and write. Image File history File links Hugh Dorsey, prosecutor of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Hugh Dorsey, prosecutor of Leo Frank File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Oral sex consists of all sexual activities that involve the use of the mouth, which may include use of the tongue, teeth, and throat, to stimulate genitalia. ...

One of Frank's supposed mistresses testified that she had never had sex with him, but was also caught in a lie on the stand regarding a previous run-in with the law on a fornication charge. The defense insinuated that Frank was homosexual, and that an office boy who testified for the defense had been having sex with Frank. Dorsey asked one witness, "Didn't you hear about 12 months ago of Frank kissing girls and playing with the nipples of their breasts?" At this, Frank's mother jumped up and began yelling at the prosecutor. Her exact words were difficult to hear clearly in the ensuing uproar, but it was widely reported that she called Dorsey a "Gentile dog" or a "Christian dog;" this incident helped to crystallize anti-Semitic sentiment in Atlanta, and hardened feelings against Frank among the public. Defense witnesses testified that there were too many people in the factory on Saturdays for Frank to have had trysts there, and it was pointed out that the windows of Frank's office lacked curtains. A large number of female factory workers testified for the defense of Frank's good character when it came to women, but a long series of workers called by the defense said that he had behaved with impropriety in the women's dressing room; some of these witnesses vigorously contradicted each other. Fornication, or simple fornication, is a term which refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other[1]. In contrast adultery is consensual sex where one or both of the partners are married to someone else. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... The word gentile is an anglicised version of the Latin word gentilis, meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Frank spoke on his own behalf, by making an unsworn Statement as allowed by Georgia Code, Section 1036; it did not permit any cross-examination without his consent. Most of his 4-hour speech consisted of an extremely long and detailed analysis of the accounting work he had done the day of Phagan's murder, meant to show that the act was too time-consuming for him to have committed the murder. He ended with a description of how he saw the crime, including an effective, and by some accounts moving, explanation of his nervousness: "Gentlemen, I was nervous. I was completely unstrung. Imagine yourself called from sound slumber in the early hours of the morning ... To see that little girl on the dawn of womanhood so cruelly murdered — it was a scene that would have melted stone."

The defense, in its closing statements, explicitly opened up the racial dimensions of the case, saying, "... if Frank hadn't been a Jew he would never have been prosecuted..." and, "Conley is a plain, beastly, drunken, filthy, lying nigger with a spreading nose through which probably tons of cocaine has been sniffed." The prosecutor compared Frank to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and said that Frank had killed Phagan to keep her from talking, both to preserve his reputation and because if she had told her story of being raped, "ten thousand men ... would have sprung up in this town and would have stormed the jail." Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll1and Mr. ...

As the trial had worn on, public sentiment in Atlanta had turned strongly against Frank. The defense requested a mistrial because it felt the jurors had been intimidated, but the motion was denied. In case of an acquittal, the judge feared for the safety of Frank and his lawyers, so he brokered a deal in which they would not be present when the verdict was read. Frank was convicted of murder. The Constitution described the scene as Dorsey emerged from the steps of city hall: Mistrial. ... In criminal law, an acquittal is the legal result of a verdict of not guilty, or some similar end of the proceeding that terminates it with prejudice without a verdict of guilty being entered against the accused. ...

"The solicitor reached no farther than the sidewalk. While mounted men rode like Cossacks through the human swarm, three muscular men slung Mr. Dorsey on their shoulders and passed him over the heads of the crowd across the street."

Dorsey was later elected governor of Georgia. This article needs cleanup. ...

Appeals

Tom Watson

Frank's appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court failed in November. Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Lamar denied a writ of habeas corpus sought by Frank's lawyers, and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes also denied habeas corpus, although he wrote a short opinion stating that "I very seriously doubt if the petitioner ... has had due process of law ... because of the trial taking place in the presence of a hostile demonstration and seemingly dangerous crowd, thought by the presiding Judge to be ready for violence unless a verdict of guilty was rendered." Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Categories: People stubs | U.S. Supreme Court justices | Georgia Supreme Court justices | 1857 births | 1916 deaths ... For other uses, see Habeas corpus (disambiguation). ... Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. ... In United States law, adopted from English Law, due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that the government must respect all of a persons legal rights instead of just some or most of those legal rights when the government deprives a person of life, liberty...

Subsequently, Justice Lamar granted a writ of error allowing Frank to appeal to the full U.S. Supreme Court, which heard Frank's appeal in April 1915. Populist politician and journalist Tom Watson's Jeffersonian wrote, "If Frank's rich connections keep on lying about this case, SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN." On April 19, in the case of Frank v. Mangum Frank's appeal was denied on a 7-2 vote. Holmes and Justice Charles Evans Hughes dissented, with Holmes writing that "Mob law does not become due process of law by securing the assent of a terrorized jury." A writ of error coram nobis is a writ which is used to inform a court (usually an appeals court) of facts not on the record despite due diligence by the party filing the writ (the petitioner). ... Look up Populism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Thomas Edward Watson (5 September 1856–26 September 1922), generally known as Tom Watson, was a United States politician from Georgia. ... is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Charles Evans Hughes (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was Governor of New York, United States Secretary of State, Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the United States. ... Ochlocracy (Greek: οχλοκρατια; Latin: ochlocratia) is government by mob or a disorganized mass of people. ...

Clemency

Indignation in the press about the commutation of Frank's sentence.

Frank applied for clemency from the departing Governor of Georgia, John M. Slaton. Slaton reviewed more than 10,000 pages of documents, carefully examined the new evidence that tended to incriminate Conley and studies comparing Conley's speech patterns to the language of the murder notes. At the hearing, former governor Joseph Mackey Brown said, Image File history File links newspaper showing public reaction to Slatons commutation of Leo Franks sentence , 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links newspaper showing public reaction to Slatons commutation of Leo Franks sentence , 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... This is a list of Governors of the state of Georgia, including governors of the British colony of Georgia. ... John Marshall Slaton, or Jack Slaton, served two non-consecutive terms as the Governor of Georgia. ... Joseph Mackey Brown (December 28, 1851 - March 3, 1932) was an American politician. ...

"Now in all frankness, if your excellency wishes to insure lynch law in Georgia, ... you can strike this dangerous blow at our institutions ... by retrying this case."

Frank's lawyer, Schley Howard, argued that Conley was the murderer:

"Who but that knows the negro knows that the prize above life itself to him is the privilege of debasing a white woman."

Convinced that Frank was innocent, on June 20, 1915, Slaton commuted Frank's sentence to life in prison, "assuming that Frank's innocence would eventually be fully established and he would be set free".^[10]. "I can endure misconstruction, abuse and condemnation," Slaton said, "but I cannot stand the constant companionship of an accusing conscience which would remind me that I, as governor of Georgia, failed to do what I thought to be right . . . It means that I must live in obscurity the rest of my days, but I would rather be plowing in a field than to feel that I had that blood on my hands."^[11] Watson railed against the decision and urged the lynchings of both Frank and Slaton: is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Life imprisonment is a term used for a particular kind of sentence of imprisonment. ...

"Our grand old Empire State HAS BEEN RAPED! ... Jew money has debased us, bought us, and sold us — and laughs at us ... Hereafter, let no man reproach the South with Lynch law: let him remember the unendurable provocation; and let him say whether lynch law is not better than no law at all."

A mob threatened to attack the governor at home, but a detachment of the Georgia National Guard under the command of Major Asa Warren Candler, along with county policemen and a group of Slaton's friends who were sworn in as deputies, dispersed the mob.^[12]

Lynching

The lynching of Leo Frank.

A group calling itself the Knights of Mary Phagan began openly^[13] organizing a plan to kidnap Frank from the state prison farm and take him to Marietta, 150 miles (240 km) away, to lynch him. They systematically recruited between 25 and 28 men with the necessary skills, rejecting some prospective participants who were perceived as too unreliable. The ringleaders were:^[5] Leo Frank lynched (large) (1915 photograph) File links The following pages link to this file: Ku Klux Klan Leo Frank User:Xiaopo/Scratchpad Talk:Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Categories: Images in the public domain in the United States ... Leo Frank lynched (large) (1915 photograph) File links The following pages link to this file: Ku Klux Klan Leo Frank User:Xiaopo/Scratchpad Talk:Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Categories: Images in the public domain in the United States ... Historic Downtown Marietta Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia GR6, and is its county seat. ...

• Joseph Mackey Brown, the former governor who had threatened lynching during the clemency hearings
• Judge Newton (Newt) Morris, who concealed a period of his life in California that may have included cattle rustling and skipping bail on a murder charge
• Eugene Herbert Clay, the scandal-plagued but widely loved son of a U.S. senator Alexander S. Clay, and former mayor of Marietta.
• John Tucker Dorsey, a lawyer and state legislator who had served a sentence for killing a man in a drunken brawl
• Fred Morris, a lawyer
• Bolan Glover Brumby, owner of a furniture factory

Among the participants in Frank's lynching, the Washington Post reported, "Herbert Clay, son of a U.S. senator, ... was perhaps the most prominent person on the list. He was identified as one of the lynching's "planners," as were Moultrie McKinney Sessions, a lawyer and banker, and John Tucker Dorsey, a Georgia legislator and prosecutor. Others named as among the lynchers were Gordon Baxter Gann, later mayor of Marietta and a state legislator; ... In all, there were 26 names on the list, some of whom may never be adequately identified."^[14] Joseph Mackey Brown (December 28, 1851 - March 3, 1932) was an American politician. ... Eugene Herbert Clay (1881-1923) was the son of Senator Alexander S. Clay, mayor of Marietta, Georgia, and one of the ringleaders in the lynching of Leo Frank. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... Alexander Stephens Clay (September 25, 1853 - November 13, 1910) was a United States Senator from Georgia. ... ...

Newspaper article after the lynching.

In addition to these leaders, the group also included a doctor, another lawyer, and the former sheriff of Cobb County. John Tucker Dorsey was also the solicitor general for the Blue Ridge Circuit, and would theoretically have been in charge of prosecuting the lynchers (none of whom were ever even indicted). Image File history File links newspaper article about Leo Frank lynching, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links newspaper article about Leo Frank lynching, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Criticism of the lynching.

On August 17, the Knights of Mary Phagan kidnapped Frank from the prison farm. The kidnapping was highly organized, using a caravan of seven cars, including one used as a decoy. They forced their way into the prison with a display of their weapons, and took Frank. Many accounts say that they drove toward Phagan's grave, intending to kill Frank there, but ran out of time and lynched him before they reached it; however, the lynching site at Frey's Gin, two miles (3 km) east of Marietta, had already been prepared, complete with a rope and table supplied by conspirator Sheriff William Frey. Frank's only requests were that they allow him to write a note to his wife, that they return his wedding ring to his wife, and that they cover his lower body before hanging him, since he was wearing nothing but a nightshirt. Frank's last words were, "I think more of my wife and my mother than I do of my own life." Image File history File links Download high resolution version (524x628, 81 KB)political cartoon criticizing the lynching of Leo Frank, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (524x628, 81 KB)political cartoon criticizing the lynching of Leo Frank, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Crowds descended on the site of the lynching, snatching up pieces of the tree and the rope as souvenirs. A man who had been grinding his heel into Frank's face was dissuaded by Judge Morris, and Frank's body was eventually transferred to an undertaker.

Aftermath

Frank's lynching coincided with the release of the film The Birth of a Nation. Many drew a parallel between Mary Phagan and the film's Flora Cameron, who throws herself off of a cliff to escape from being raped by a black man.

After Frank's lynching, approximately half of Georgia's 3,000 Jews left the state.^[15] Image File history File links scene from The Birth of a Nation, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links scene from The Birth of a Nation, 1915 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

The Southerners who believed Frank to be guilty saw similarities between the Frank trial and The Birth of a Nation, especially between Mary Phagan and the film's character Flora, a young virgin who throws herself off a cliff to avoid the black character Gus (described as "a renegade, a product of the vicious doctrines spread by the carpetbaggers") who she believes is attempting to rape her. Many American Jews saw Frank as an American Alfred Dreyfus. The intensity of the national and international attention focused on it was comparable to the obsession produced by the Lindbergh kidnapping. Frank's lynching led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. For the 1982 film of the same name, see Birth of a Nation (1982 film). ... In United States history, carpetbaggers were Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction between 1865 and 1877. ... The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal with anti-Semitic overtones which divided France from the 1890s to the early 1900s. ... Lindbergh baby kidnapping poster. ... The Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) is an advocacy group founded by Bnai Brith in the United States whose stated aim is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. ...

The Frank trial was used skillfully to work up enthusiasm for rebuilding the Ku Klux Klan, which the federal government had destroyed during Reconstruction. The new Klan was inaugurated in 1915 at a mountaintop meeting, led by William J. Simmons, and attended by aging members of the original Klan, along with members of the Knights of Mary Phagan. In keeping with its origins in the Leo Frank lynching, the reorganized Klan had a new anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and nativist slant. This was consistent with the new Klan's greater success at recruiting in the US Midwest than in the South. Recruiters made effective use of the idea that prospective members' problems were caused by blacks, Jewish bankers, or other such groups. Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... This article is about the Midwestern region in the United States. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

Eventually, Frank was vindicated. In 1982, Alonzo Mann, by then an old man, came forth with the information that he had seen Jim Conley dragging Mary Phagan's body. Mann, then a thirteen-year-old office boy at the pencil factory, was told by Conley not to tell what he had seen, or Conley would kill him. Alonzo Mann swore in an affidavit. Mann died in 1985.

Finally, the Anti-Defamation League, encouraged by Alonzo Mann's testimony, convinced the Georgia Board of Pardons to grant Leo Frank a posthumous pardon. The Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) is an advocacy group founded by Bnai Brith in the United States whose stated aim is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. ...

On March 11, 1986, Frank was issued a pardon by the Georgia pardons and paroles board (after a denial in 1983),^[16] without clearing him of the crime; only the issue of his safety in the State's custody was raised. Phagan's family continued to insist on Frank's guilt, even after Conley's repeated confessions were revealed. However, they disassociated themselves from the use of Mary's murder to further the purposes of the Klan. Mary Phagan's great-niece, also named Mary, wrote a book about the case in 1987. is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Dramatizations

The Leo Frank story has been dramatised extensively. It opened as a musical -- Parade by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown -- on Broadway in 1998 and subsequently won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score and Best Book of a Musical. Though it received mixed reviews and was short lived, a national tour ensued in 2000 and it is still produced around the world. The case was also the basis for the 1988 made-for-TV movie, The Murder of Mary Phagan, starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher, and Kevin Spacey. They Won't Forget (1937) was a fictional movie inspired by the incident, although the Leo Frank equivalent was portrayed as a Christian. David Mamet's 1997 novel The Old Religion is a fictional exploration of the trials, depicting Frank as being wrought by inner turmoil. Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Parade is a musical that opened on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on December 17, 1998 with a book (musical theatre) book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. ... Alfred Fox Uhry (born December 3, 1936) is an American playwright best known for the play and screenplay of Driving Miss Daisy. ... Jason Robert Brown (born 1970 in Ossining, New York) is an American musical theater composer and lyricist. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... The Murder of Mary Phagan, a 1988 two-part TV-movie presenting the true story of Leo Frank, a factory manager falsely accused of murdering a little girl in Georgia in 1913, featured Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Rebecca Miller, Charles Dutton, Peter Gallagher, Cynthia Nixon, Dylan Baker, and William H... John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001), better known as Jack Lemmon, was a two-time Academy Award and Cannes Award-winning American actor and comedian. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is a Golden Globe-winning American actor. ... Kevin Spacey (born July 26, 1959) is an Academy Award-winning American actor (film and stage) and director. ... They Wont Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy (who was uncredited). ... For other uses, see Christian (disambiguation). ... David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ...

Notes

The Anti-Defamation League (or ADL) is an advocacy group founded by Bnai Brith in the United States whose stated aim is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. ... Only in America (1958) paperback Harry Lewis Golden (né Harry Goldhirsch) (May 6, 1902–October 2, 1981) was born in the Jewish ghetto in what is now Mikulintsy, Ukraine, then part of Austria-Hungary. ... is the 163rd day of the year (164th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... (Clockwise from upper left) Time magazine covers from May 7, 1945; July 25, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ...

References

• James Allen (editor), Hilton Als, Jon Lewis, and Leon F. Litwack, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America (Twin Palms Pub: 2000) ISBN 0-944092-69-1. Includes photo of the public murder of Leo Frank.
• Leonard Dinnerstein, The Leo Frank Case (Athens, GA, 1987). Dinnerstein is a historian.
• Leonard Dinnerstein, "The Fate of Leo Frank," American Heritage 47 (October 1996), pp.98-109.
• Steve Oney. And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank. New York: Random House, 2003. According to Publishers Weekly, "Oney carefully maps the history of the Jewish community in the South; the role that New York newspapers played in publicizing the trial and attacking anti-Semitism; and the complex role that racism and the interactions between black and white Georgians played in Frank's conviction."
• Mary Phagan. The Murder of Little Mary Phagan. Far Hills, NJ: Horizon Press, 1987. The author, Mary Phagan Kean, is the great-grand niece and namesake of the murder victim.
• Albert S. Lindemann, The Jew Accused: Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank), 1894-1915. Cambridge University Press, 1991.

External links

• The Leo Frank Case: Open or Closed? New documents found.
• The Leo Frank Case compiled by Charles Pou
• "Marietta's Shame: The Lynching of Leo Frank" (from the Atlanta Nation)
• Letters probe killer's mind: Frank pleads his innocence (from The Cincinnati Post)
• "The Case of Leo Frank" (Court TV's Crime Library)
• Leo Frank Guilty The Atlanta Journal-Constitution article
• "The Mystery of the Pencil Factory" a virulently racist 1929 account
• Rabbi Steven Lebow lays plaque commemorating lynching site