1369 Sheet – Supreme Court Georgia Appeals of Leo Frank, 1913, 1914

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Visible Translated Text Is As Follows:

(j) On the 28th of May, Conley made a long affidavit, full of contradictions and absurdities, beginning it as follows:

"I make this statement, my second statement in regard to the murder of Mary Phagan at the National Pencil Company factory. In my first statement, I made the statement that I went to the pencil factory on Friday, April 25th, and went in Frank's office at five minutes to one, which is a mistake. I made this statement in regard to Friday in order that I might not be accused of knowing anything of this murder, for I thought if I put myself there on Saturday they might accuse me of having a hand in it, and I now make MY SECOND AND LAST STATEMENT regarding the matter freely and voluntarily, after thinking over the situation, and I have made up my mind to tell the whole truth and I make it freely and voluntarily without the promise of any reward or from force or fear of punishment in any way."

(k) After this beginning he sets out with variations the writing of the notes on Saturday instead of on Friday, and in a long rambling statement his movements at home and on Peters Street on Saturday and on Monday at the factory, most of which is wholly disconnected with the murder.

(l) On May 29th, 1913, although he had already sworn that he made "his true, full and last statement," he made another statement in which he purported to aid Frank in concealing the body of Mary Phagan. This statement is full of contradictions and wholly irreconcilable with itself and with the known facts surrounding the murder.

(m) He closes this remarkable affidavit in the following words: "The reason I have not told this before is that I thought Mr. Frank would get out and help me out, but it seems that he is not going to get out, and I decided to tell the whole truth about the matter."

8. These incoherent, jibbering statements will, it is believed, impress the Grand Jury if the negro Conley's case is submitted to it.

9. The Grand Jury can be trusted to scan these queer statements in the light of all the surrounding facts and circumstances and taken in connection with all the other facts implicating Conley, they proclaim his guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.

10. The detectives, obsessed as they are with the assumption that Conley is a tool and not a murderer, are unfit to keep him in their sole and unlimited power. Under their protecting care, Conley, instead of being left to tell the truth, will at length deceive himself into the belief that instead of being a murderer he is an unfortunate victim.

11. That Conley and his counsel wish it, is the best reason why it should not be done. As long as he sticks to a story pleasing to the detectives, or