Copyright © 1987 by Mary Phagan/Kean
Grateful acknowledgement is made by the author to the following:
To the Atlanta Historical Society for excerpts from Atlanta and Its Environs, Volume 2, 1954, by Franklin Garrett.
To the Atlanta Journal and Constitution for articles dealing with the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank case, 1913-1987.
To the Augusta Chronicle-Herald for the statement by Justice Randall Evans, Jr. which appeared in the May 15, 1983 edition.
To Henry Bowden for use of material from his paper on Leo Frank, which appeared in 1945.
To Tom Watson Brown for use of material from Notes on the Case of Leo Max Frank and Its Aftermath, 1982; from personal letters; and from Watson’s Magazine, August 1915 edition (Jeffersonian Publishing Company).
To the Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana, successor to the Butler University School of Religion, publisher of The Shane Quarterly, for the excerpt from the letter of Dr. Luther Otterbein Bricker which appeared in the April 1943 edition (IV:2) of The Shane Quarterly.
To the East Cobb Neighbor, Marietta, Georgia, for use of the article, “Jewish Leaders Seek Exoneration for Frank,” which appeared in the April 6, 1982 edition.
To the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles for the letter of Silas Moore dated January 17, 1983; and for the Decisions dated December 22, 1983 and March 16, 1986.
To George H. Keeler for statements of O. B. Keeler on the Leo M. Frank case, 1913-1915.
To Stewart Lewengrub, Southeast Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, for his letter to James Phagan of March 21, 1974.
To the Nashville Tennessean for articles dealing with the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank case, 1982-1986, especially the Special News Section on the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank case appearing in the March 7, 1982 edition, and the article, “Little Mary Phagan Is Not Forgotten,” which appeared in the September 5, 1983 edition.
To Sandra Roberts of the Nashville Tennessean staff, for personal letters dated April 6, 1982, April 14, 1982, and April 22, 1982.
To the University of North Carolina Press for the use of excerpt from I Can Go Home Again by Arthur Gray Powell, published in 1943.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy and recording, or by any informational or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1975 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher:
New Horizon Press, P.O. 669, Far Hills, New Jersey 07931.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Phagan, Mary
The murder of little Mary Phagan.
1. Murder—Georgia—Atlanta—Case studies.
2. Phagan, Mary, d. 1913. 3. Frank, Leo, 1884-1915.
I. Title.
HV6534.A7P46 1987 364.1’523’09758231 87-31263
ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-0-88282-532-8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I gratefully acknowledge the following individuals for giving me the oral history of my family: Mary Richards Phagan; Annabelle Phagan Cochran, Lily Phagan Baswell; John Phagan Durham; and to J. C. Girthrie, childhood friend of my grandfather.
The author gratefully acknowledges Lisa Sorrels, who helped me research, edit, and rewrite my manuscript and gave me emotional support. To Tom Watson Brown, great-grandson of Tom Watson and Bill Kinney, Senior Editor of The Marietta Daily Journal, I acknowledge their assistance in the preparation of the trial and lynching material.
I also gratefully acknowledge these individuals for granting me interviews: Franklin Garrett, Historian, Atlanta Historical Society; George Keeler, son of 0. B. Keeler, Mariettan who covered the trial for the Atlanta Georgian; Michael H. Wing, Member of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles; Stuart Lewengrub, Southeast Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League; Betty Cantor, Associate Director of Southeast office of the Anti- Defamation League; Charles Wittenstein; Southern Counsel of the Anti-Defamation League.
And lastly to Bernard and my friends for their love and encouragement.
To Daddy
and
William Joshua Phagan, Jr. (1898-1973)
Michael Robert Phagan (1959-1982)
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1
“ARE YOU, BY ANY CHANCE ...?”
Chapter 2
THE LEGACY
Chapter 3
MY SEARCH BEGINS
Chapter 4
THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION
Chapter 5
THE CASE FOR THE DEFENSE
Chapter 6
SENTENCING AND AFTERMATH
Chapter 7
THE COMMUTATION
Chapter 8
THE LYNCHING
Chapter 9
REVERBERATIONS
Chapter 10
ALONZO MANN’S TESTIMONY
Chapter 11
THE PHAGANS BREAK THEIR VOW OF SILENCE
Chapter 12
APPLICATION FOR PARDON: 1983
AFTERWORD: PARDON, 1986
I placed a single red rose on the grave. My finger traced over the name Mary Phagan. The epitaph was one I knew by heart.
IN THIS DAY OF FADING IDEALS AND DISAPPEARING LANDMARKS LITTLE MARY PHAGAN’S HEROISM IS AN HEIRLOOM THAN WHICH THERE IS NOTHING MORE PRECIOUS AMONG THE OLD RED HILLS OF GEORGIA.
SLEEP, LITTLE GIRL; SLEEP IN YOUR HUMBLE GRAVE BUT IF THE ANGELS ARE GOOD TO YOU IN THE REALMS REYOND THE TROU BEL [sic] SUNSET AND THE CLOUDED STARS, THEY WILL LET YOU KNOW THAT MANY AN ACHING HEART IN GEORGIA BEATS FOR YOU, AND MANY A TEAR FROM EYES UNUSED TO WEEP, HAS PAID TRIBUTE TOO SACRED FOR WORDS.
Looking up, I saw an old couple trudge up the grassy hill towards the grave. I stood up and turned to meet them. “Can I help you?” I inquired.
The lady wore a light blue dress with a matching striped jacket and white sandals. Her brown eyes were framed by glasses and her hair was gray. I guess she was in her mid-to late eighties. Her husband also had brown eyes and gray hair, balding a little on top. Twin-like, they were almost color-coordinated: he wore a light gray wool suit and pale blue shirt. He must have been around ninety years old, and he walked with a cane. He towered over her.
Somehow, from the way they carried themselves, I knew their questions would be different. Not the usual, “Do you know where the grave of little Mary Phagan is?” “Are you, by any chance, related to little Mary Phagan?” “How do you feel about the murder of little Mary Phagan?
They seemed to be lost in remembering, too.
The lady looked