ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Mary Phagan had only two things on her mind on April 26, 1913.
First, it was Confederate Memorial Day in Georgia, and the 13-year-old girl from a working-class family was excited to show off her new dress.
Second, she had to pick up her paycheck of $1.20 from Leo Frank, her boss at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, where she worked to help support her widowed mother who ran a local boarding house.
Phagan ate a late breakfast of cabbage and bread around 11:30 a.m., and then headed to the factory. She would never be seen alive again.
Phagan’s body was discovered early the next morning by night watchman Newt Lee, who was making his rounds and came upon her in the factory’s filthy basement. Two days later, police arrested Frank – believed to be the last person to have seen Phagan alive – and charged him with her murder.
Phagan’s murder and Frank’s trial captured the nation’s attention, and until the Atlanta child murders of the late 1970s and early 80s was the city’s most sensational.
Originally from Texas and educated at Cornell University, Frank was active in Atlanta’s Jewish community and served as president of the local chapter of B’nai B’rith, a Jewish fraternal organization.
Frank’s trial began in July 1913 and quickly became a national sensation, attracting attention for its sensationalist media coverage and the highly charged atmosphere in the courtroom.
The main witness against Frank was Jim Conley, an African American janitor at the factory, who claimed Frank had asked him to help cover up the murder.
The prosecution’s case relied heavily on Conley’s testimony, despite inconsistencies and contradictions. The trial was marked by intense public scrutiny, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and mob pressure, with crowds outside the courthouse demanding Frank’s conviction.
On August 25, 1913, Frank was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The case drew national attention, with many believing Frank had been convicted due to prejudice and a lack of solid evidence.
Appeals and petitions for clemency were made by prominent Americans, including former President William Howard Taft and social reformers.
In June 1915, Georgia Gov. John M. Slaton commuted Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment, believing there was reasonable doubt about his guilt.
This decision provoked outrage in Georgia. On August 16, 1915, Frank was abducted from his cell at the Georgia State Prison in Milledgeville, driven to Marietta and lynched the next day.
The case is one of the most notorious examples of anti-Semitism in American history. Frank’s trial and lynching galvanized Jewish communities across the country and led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League in 1913, dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and bigotry.
The case also highlighted racial tensions in the South, as the prosecution relied on the testimony of Conley against a white (though Jewish) defendant.
The story of Mary Phagan and Leo Frank has been retold in books, plays, films, and music.
This past April, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said the case file outlining Frank’s conviction is “under review” with the office’s conviction integrity unit. The office reviews convictions and sentences for fairness, including claims of actual innocence.
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