Lynching Anniversary and Other History

1. There are likely to be a few more clouds but no rain today as the temperature tops out around 89 degrees and the breeze fades away, the National Weather Service says. The overnight low will be about 67.

2. Marietta Patch will have an article later today on Tuesday night’s meeting of the , during which the proposed auditorium at was on the discussion agenda. The deadline for firms to respond to a request for proposals for the architectural and engineering design work for the project is 2 p.m. Aug. 25. Eleven firms attended a pre-proposal meeting this month for those interested in bidding: Cunningham, Forehand, Matthews & Moore; CDH Partners; Menefee & Winer; JEA Architects; Southern A & E; BRPH; Perkings + Will; Lyman, Davidson, Dooley; James W. Buckley & Assoc.; Gardner, Spencer, Smith; and CGLS Architects.

3. In government action today, the Citizen Oversight Committee meets at 100 Cherokee St. at 9 a.m., and the meets at 10 a.m. at 736 Whitlock Ave. Want to do business with the county? There’s a free workshop on how to be a county vendor at 5:30 p.m. at the , 1220 Al Bishop Dr.; let Inger Eberhart know you plan to attend at 770-528-3317 or inger.eberhart@cobbcounty.org.

4. The last week reappointed five members of the Marietta Museum of History board to three-year terms running through Aug. 10, 2014. They are Thomas McBrayer, Alice Summerour, Guy H. Northcutt Jr. Harry Lembeck and Danna Kaye. And if you’re interested in Marietta history, be sure to read about the living history around Marietta Square and about new century-old home.

5. Speaking of history, today is the 96th anniversary of one of Marietta’s most shameful moments: the lynching of Leo Frank after he was abducted from the state prison in Milledgeville and driven overnight to a site at Frey’s Gin. A hard-to-spot historical marker stands on the spot along Roswell Road just west of the Interstate 75 overpass. It’s the only known instance in American history of a Jew being lynched, and it was carried out with the involvement of some of Marietta’s leading citizens in revenge for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in 1913. Frank was convicted of the murder at the National Pencil factory in a prosecution rife with anti-Semitism. While no one knows for sure who killed Phagan, the evidence points toward the main witness against Frank, Jim Conley, rather than Frank himself.