You Are There: Atlanta Georgian, May 20th, 1913 – Little Mary Phagan

Cases Ready Against Lee and Leo Frank

Atlanta Georgian
Tuesday, May 20th, 1913

Solicitor General Dorsey Declares All Evidence Will Go to the Grand Jury Friday.

Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey announced Tuesday morning that the State's case against Leo M. Frank and Newt Lee in connection with the Phagan murder, would go to the Grand Jury Friday of this week. He said that he could anticipate no new arrest or development that would make it necessary to change this plan.

Mrs. Jane F. Carr, 251 Ponce De-Leon Avenue, in an open letter, asked every woman in Atlanta to contribute to the fund to employ the Burns detective and Mr. Burns himself to work in the Phagan investigation. She appealed to women of every walk in life to give according to their means.

"What if Mary Phagan were your child?" was the subject of her letter.

Felder Asks for Funds.

The Burns fund, after going above the $2,000 mark, slacked considerably. Colonel Thomas B. Felder said this sum would not sufficient if it became necessary for the Burns men to make an exhaustive investigation, and asked the people to contribute liberally to the end that Atlanta's greatest mystery be satisfactorily cleared.

C. W. Tobie, chief of the Burns' criminal investigation department, was even more optimistic Tuesday morning than he was Monday that the Phagan mystery would be cleared to the satisfaction of Atlanta.

"Another day on the scene has only convinced me that the crime is far from the most baffling the Burns detectives have solved," he said at his hotel Tuesday morning. "I am not at liberty to make public the result of my investigation, but we have certainly made progress."

Search for Phone Girl.

City detectives are searching for a telephone girl who was reported to have heard a conversation over the telephone the night of the murder between two persons said to be attaches of the pencil factory.

Chief of Detectives Newport Lanford said that he had learned from a responsible source of a switchboard operator who was reported to have overheard a conversation that would be of the greatest importance in the Phagan case. He would not say whether he had learned the identity of the girl.

A corps of department detectives were detailed to the search that will take in every private branch exchange in Atlanta.

Colonel Felder said that he had heard nothing of the report and was quite sure the Burns detective had not. The Pinkertons, through Harry Scott, said they attached little importance to the report, but that if it were true the girl could be easily located.

City detectives and the Pinkertons spent several hours at the pencil factory plant last night. The premises were minutely searched for new clews. The result was not made public.

Working independent of every one, Tobie, the Burns agent, was away from his hotel bright and early Tuesday morning following up a lead that he said had been heretofore overlooked. He will make daily reports to Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey and Colonel Felder.

Here is Mrs. Carr's letter urging all women to interest themselves in the Mary Phagan case:

Calls It Women's Case.

"To the Women of Atlanta:

"The Mary Phagan case is our case, and it behooves every woman to set the seal of condemnation upon lawlessness and demand that no means shall be unused, no expense spared in

Phagan Case in Readiness for Indictment

Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey Will Ask Grand Jury for True Bills on Friday.

Continued From Page 1.

bringing to justice the foul villain who perpetrated this unparalleled crime. His freedom is a menace to the honor and life of every woman in our community.

"But no mistake must be made. Some of our most prominent men, and a few big-hearted women, have taken the initiative in contributing to the fund which obtains the best detective talent in America, and in the increasing of that fund we women have our opportunity.

Wants All to Contribute.

"Let every woman give something, however small the amount, and in the aggregation of these such a sum will be acquired as shall employ and reward all the legal and detective talent that has been so continuously and generously given, and will be given in the search for the criminal.

"To systematize this wholesale giving, let the women in all departments of endeavor—in offices, in plants, in stores or wherever women congregate, select one of their number to receive the individual contributions and send, as a whole, the amount they realize to The Georgian, with these instructions: ‘For the Mary Phagan Investigation Fund.' Let the same plan be pursued in neighborhoods.

"Let us be up and doing!

"What if Mary Phagan were your child?

(Signed) "MRS. JAMES F. CARR."

Black Scores Burns Man.

Detective John Black, who has been working on the Phagan case in conjunction with Pinkerton Detective Harry Scott, Tuesday declared that Detective Tobie, the Burns man, was not justified in his charge that certain features of the mystery have been overlooked.

"Mr. Tobie has gone entirely too far in his statements," said Detective Black. "He doesn't know what has been done by detectives on this case, and doesn't know what evidence we have in our possession. We are not showing our hand to everyone who comes along. If he can show us some thing in this case that has been overlooked, then we'll think he knows what he is talking about, but unless he does show something, we'll attach no importance, whatever, to his statements."

Detective Scott declined to discuss the Burns detective's theory or position in the case. As to the Pinkerton's part in the affair, he said:

"We have worked this case from fully 500 angles. Every possible phase and feature has been investigated. Nothing has been overlooked. The public has no idea of the many and varied angles that have been presented by this tragedy."