Mary Phagan
Image via Wikipedia
Mary Phagan woke up with usual routine on that fine morning. It was the big day she had been waiting for. The big day she would be collecting her paycheck. The big night party she was looking forward to celebrate with her neighbors. It was the big day of Confederate Memorial Day. The year was 1913, the day was the 26th of April, and it would be the day Mary would not be able to see her plans materialize.
According to sources, witnesses and records, Mary Phagan reached the factory she worked at close to 12 noon and went to see the Plant Manager, Leo Frank, to receive her salary. That was the last anyone saw of Mary Phagan – alive.
Her body was discovered the following day early morning at 3AM. The security guard on duty, Newt Lee, noticed a corpse in the factory’s basement. Within a short span of 5 days, the law enforcement officials had leads on 5 suspects – 2 of which were the security guard Lee and Leo Frank.
The trial commenced on the 28th day of July. The defense, represented by Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold, were up against Leo Dorsey from the prosecution. Testimonies flowed back & forth, and in the end Frank Leo was found guilty in light of statements from Jim Conley, the janitor who claimed to have assisted in moving Mary Phagan’s corpse to the basement.
Two years later in 1915, Leo was abducted from his cell at Georgia Work Farm Prison by unknown men and was found lynched in Marietta. The lynching was attributed to the racial supremacy group – the Ku Klux Clan
