Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Marietta teenager Mary Phagan was killed 100 years ago at the National Pencil factory in Atlanta, starting a chain of events that culminated in the lynching of Leo Frank.
Marietta teenager Mary Phagan was killed 100 years ago at the National Pencil factory in Atlanta, starting a chain of events that culminated in the lynching of Leo Frank less than 2½ years later near Frey's Gin. Friday, April 26, marked the anniversary of Phagan's death. As we've explored on Marietta Patch, the deaths of the 13-year-old girl and the man convicted of her murder remain raw moments in the history of Marietta, Cobb County and some of the area's leading families. There was a steady stream of visitors to the Marietta City Cemetery, specifically to Phagan's tombstone, on Friday, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. For more on Mary Phagan and Leo Frank:
Thursday, August 16, 2012
In 1915, Leo Frank was abducted from the state prison in Milledgeville and driven overnight to a site at Frey’s Gin in Marietta. Take a look at historic events from August 16.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Melissa Kory
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Thursday, August 16, 2012
A caravan of eight vehicles with 25 armed men from the Atlanta area arrived at the Georgia State Prison at Milledgeville around 10 p.m. Cutting the telephone lines, they entered the barrack of Leo Frank, who had been convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan. The intruders abducted Frank and headed for Marietta. The Troubling Case of Leo M. Frank: There is nothing simple about Marietta's most infamous story. Read the first in a three-part series on the case. The Trial of Leo M. Frank: While anti-Semitism played a role in the lynching of Leo Frank, it does not appear to have been a factor in his trial. Read part two in a three-part story. The Battle for Leo Frank: Between Frank's conviction in 1913 and his lynching in 1915, a national pro-…
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Today marks the 99th anniversary of the 13-year-old Marietta girl's murder.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Marietta teenager Mary Phagan was killed 99 years ago today at the National Pencil factory in Atlanta, starting a chain of events that culminated in the lynching of Leo Frank less than 2½ years later near Frey's Gin. As we've explored on Marietta Patch, the deaths of the 13-year-old girl and the man convicted of her murder remain raw moments in the history of Marietta, Cobb County and some of the area's leading families. Coming off this month's sesquicentennial celebration of the Great Locomotive Chase, how should the city observe next year's centennial of Phagan's slaying and the Aug. 17, 2015, centennial of the Frank lynching? Share your thoughts in the comment space below. For more on Mary Phagan and Leo Frank:
Monday, September 12, 2011
Between Frank's conviction in 1913 and his lynching in 1915, a national pro-Frank media campaign met with a backlash of antisemitism.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Todd Hudson
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Monday, September 12, 2011
In the weeks following Leo Frank’s conviction for the murder of Mary Phagan, two separate campaigns to free the condemned man began to take shape. The first was a legal battle conducted by defense attorneys Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold, who would appeal the case to the trial judge, the Georgia Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Board of Pardons and Paroles. All of these proved to be of no avail. The second battle, which was both more successful and more incendiary, would take place in the court of public opinion with the news media as its principle combatants. It was in this arena that the issue of anti-Semitism, hitherto no more than a smoldering ember, would be fanned into full blown animosity. The likelihood of this was …
Monday, September 5, 2011
While anti-Semitism played a role in the lynching of Leo Frank, it does not appear to have been a factor in his trial. Read part two in a three-part story.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Todd Hudson
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Monday, September 5, 2011
As far as I can tell, the popular mythology about the Leo Frank case runs something like this: Leo Frank was charged with murdering Mary Phagan for two reasons: He was a Jew, and he was the last person known to have seen her alive. Anything else was just icing on the cake. He was then railroaded by a prosecution, judge and jury made up of anti-Semitic Georgia bigots who trusted the word of a black man over that of a rich Jew. After the inevitable conviction, Gov. John Slaton, seeing the case for the travesty that it was, stepped in and commuted Frank’s sentence. In reaction to this, an angry mob of Mariettans, determined to see justice done, snatched Frank from his prison cell and hanged him from the nearest tree. As evidence for the …
Monday, August 29, 2011
There is nothing simple about Marietta's most infamous story. Read the first in a three-part series on the case.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Todd Hudson
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Monday, August 29, 2011
Since I have been writing the “Marietta History Files,” I have intentionally steered clear of one particular topic: the lynching of Leo M. Frank. My avoidance has not stemmed from a lack of interest. On the contrary: No other story in Marietta history captures my interest more than this one. Instead, I have avoided it because, while it is still very pertinent to us today, the real case is far more complicated than the one held in the popular imagination. It is also a sensitive subject: To a certain extent, it deals with anti-Semitism. It led directly to the formation of both the Anti-Defamation League and the “second incarnation” of the Ku Klux Klan (not to equate the two, by any means). The story also implicates the recent ancestors of …
Mark Cohen
6:03 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The 1,800 page Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court Records (1913, 1914), have been published at 'The Internet Archive' and are available free to download. https://archive.org/details/leo-frank-georgia-supreme-court-case-records-1913-1914 more ›