Justice for Mary Phagan

Justice for Mary Phagan is an advocate for the 13-year-old murder victim during a time when attempts are being made to unjustly pardon her murderer.

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Mary Phagan-Kean has begun writing a documentary about what happened to little #MaryPhagan to honor her memory and ensure that #justice is served in this controversial #murder case. Please consider donating to help fund the documentary and keep the truth of what happened in 1913 from being suppressed.
Purchasing the recently released second edition of Mary Phagan-Kean's book will also help. Check it out below!

#leofrank #truecrime #Atlanta #history

https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: May 1st-4th, 1913

Arthur Mullinax and James Gantt were both released from custody. However, Newt Lee and #LeoFrank were still held as suspects, with Jim Conley joining them on this day. Jim Conley worked as a sweeper at the National Pencil Company. He would become a major character in the case due to his highly damning testimony about Leo Frank and how Frank was involved with #MaryPhagan on April 26th, 1913.

On May 2nd, the Atlanta Constitution published a photo of Leo Frank being taken to The Tower (county jail) and held as a major suspect in the #murder case. Now he could no longer be seen as just the innocent boss who didn't even know Mary Phagan's name -- he was now under intense scrutiny as the potential murderer. In the photograph, you can see him striding towards The Tower, escorted by Chief of Detectives, Newport A. Lanford.

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On May 4th, a newspaper article was released with the first mention of planted evidence.

"A Pinkerton official said Saturday night.
"I am satisfied that evidence is being planted. The object of such operations is mystifying. The clock record is plainly a "framed-up" clue. The shirt appears to be, and there are numerous other indications. Also, we are convinced that there are mysterious forces antagonizing our investigation. Sad will be the day that these men are caught."" -- Atlanta Constitution, May 4th, 1913

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#Atlanta #truecrime #OTD #history #TruthPrevails

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

https://t.co/X89Z9lAeuJ

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 29th and 30th, 1913

April 29th was the big day for Leo M. Frank. He was taken into custody and officially declared a suspect for the murder of little Mary Phagan. On this day, Mary Phagan was buried. She was buried in Marietta, Georgia.

"When the first shovelful of earth was thrown down into the grave Mrs. Phagan broke down completely. Half deliriously, she raved of her daughter.

"Taken Away When Spring Was Coming.

"“She was taken away when the spring was coming—the spring that was so like her. Oh, and she wanted to see the spring. She loved it—it loved her. She played with it—it was a sister to her almost.”

"On she wailed. Her husband tried to quiet her, but he failed. She crept up to the edge of the grave, and taking from the clergyman’s hand the handkerchief that he had been using to wipe away her tears, she waved it.

"“Goodby [sic], Mary,” she sobbed. “Goodby. It’s too big a hole to put you in though. It’s so big—b-i-g, and you were so little—my own little Mary!”" -- Atlanta Constitution, April 30th, 1913

https://t.co/JVTkG4A4b3

Once Frank was brought in as a suspect, he was asked by #Atlanta police and his own detective to interrogate Newt Lee, the night watchman who discovered Mary Phagan's body. Interestingly, a bloody shirt was found in Newt Lee's home, at the bottom of a barrel.

This bloody shirt turned out to be planted evidence -- planted by Leo Frank's defense team, and was one of the key events that convinced Atlanta police to arrest Leo Frank for suspicion. This interrogation with Newt Lee was an interesting event in itself. #LeoFrank was in custody and had been arrested, and then was asked to interrogate a fellow suspect...

At this interrogation, Frank himself did not ask any questions of Newt Lee and just sat there squirming in his chair and answering questions that Newt Lee asked of HIM. Newt Lee gave testimony stating that he said, "Mr. Frank, do you believe I committed that crime?" and Frank said, "No, Newt, I know you didn't, but I believe you know something about it." Newt then said, "Mr. Frank, I don't know a thing about it, no more than finding the body." Frank responded with, "We are not talking about that now, we will let that go. If you keep that up we will both go to hell."

Harry Scott, of the #Pinkertons, was quoted as saying, "Mr. Frank was extremely nervous at that time. He was very squirmy in his chair, crossing one leg after the other and didn't know where to put his hands; he was moving them up and down his face, and he hung his head a great deal of the time while the negro was talking to him. He breathed very heavily and took deep swallows, and sighed and hesitated somewhat."
Harry Scott was one of the detectives who later declared that his detective work came to the conclusion that Frank was the real murderer.

https://t.co/yCfIFxjG6u

On April 30th, 1913, the coroner's inquest began. Paul Donehoo, the coroner, ended up declaring that there was sufficient evidence to charge both Leo Frank and Newt Lee with the #murder.

https://t.co/ZrhR18gPsh

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#MaryPhagan #OTD #Georgia #truecrime #history #onthisday

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

In tears, grieving at the horrific murder of little Mary Phagan. Atlanta Georgian, April 28, 1913, Page 2. Ollie Phagan, left, and Ruth Phagan, right.

Images re-imagined: Original (microfilm), Vintage Newspaper, Denoised, Upscaled, Clarified and Colorized with SuperGrok AI, April 30, 2026

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 28th, 1913

On this day in 1913, Leo M. Frank hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to aid in finding the murderer of Mary Phagan. She had been found dead in the basement of his factory the day prior. Funnily enough, the very detectives that Frank had hired would resign later and declare that they believed that Leo Frank was actually the guilty man.

https://t.co/GqFZNJCqNv

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In addition, both James Gantt and Gordon Bailey were arrested on suspicion of the #murder of Mary Phagan. So far, that is a total of four people arrested on suspicion: Newt Lee, night watchman; Arthur Mullinax, former streetcar conductor and acquaintance of Mary Phagan's; James Gantt, former shipping clerk at the National Pencil Factory; and Gordon Bailey, a laborer at the National Pencil Factory.

Arthur Mullinax was arrested due to a citizen claiming that they saw Arthur Mullinax out and about with Mary Phagan on Saturday evening. James Gantt was arrested for the reasons that he knew #MaryPhagan, had been at the factory the day of the murder, and #LeoFrank had stated that he believed Gantt was romantically interested in the girl. Gantt had previously been fired from the NPC and had come earlier in the day, April 26th, to retrieve some shoes that he had left there.

https://t.co/vGT5982EDd

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A $1,000 reward was offered by the #Atlanta Constitution for anyone who could bring in worthy information regarding the murderer of Mary Phagan on this day as well.

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#truecrime #OTD #Georgia #history #truthwins #onthisdayinhistory

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 27th, 1913

The body of 13-year-old Mary Phagan was discovered in the dirty, dingy basement of the National Pencil Factory, early in the morning by the night watchman, Newt Lee. The watchman was shocked to find a body in the basement and almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. After the initial shock though, he went straightaway to the telephone to call his boss, #LeoFrank. There were four adults living at Frank's home, but no one answered Lee's call. He then phoned the police who arrived very quickly.

What the police found was Mary's body which was dirty from being dragged around the basement floor as well as two notes next to it. They also immediately arrested Newt Lee.

Leo Frank was eventually taken to the morgue that day to identify the body but acted noticeably nervous and refused to even look at the body once it was revealed. In addition, even though Frank was not even a suspect at this point in time, he went ahead and hired Georgia's best lawyer, Luther Z. Rosser AND the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The police found this to be suspicious behavior for a supposedly innocent man.

https://t.co/PC6G5ViNMR

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To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#OTD #MaryPhagan #truecrime #history #truthwins #onthisday #Georgia

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

Seeking Justice for Little Mary Phagan | April 26, 2026

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my family in our mission for historical truth. We stand firm against the ADL, SPLC, activist professors, fake news journalists, media propagandists, and agitators that distort the Leo Frank trial and fabricate claims of antisemitism in their efforts to rehabilitate his image.

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today is the 113th anniversary of the sex murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan by her sweatshop boss Leo Frank. Today Jonathan Greenblatt and the ADL will be telling us that Frank was an "innocent victim of anti-Semitism." That is a lie.

Simple logic and the plain facts prove it to be a lie.

The #murder took place on the second floor of the National Pencil Company in #Atlanta. Besides the victim, there were only six people in the building. And five of them obviously didn’t do it. That leaves #LeoFrank.

The six were: 1) Harry Denham and 2) Arthur White, machinists working up on the fourth floor, and 3) Mrs. White, who was with her husband on the fourth floor and had just brought him lunch; 4) 14-year-old Monteen Stover who had come to get her pay from Frank and found his office empty at the time of the murder; 5) the Black janitor Jim Conley, keeping watch for Frank near the building's entrance; and 6) Leo Frank in his office on the second floor about 30 feet away from Conley.

The #ADL and other Frank advocates are still trying to frame Jim Conley for the crime. But Conley obviously didn't do it. Conley had just been paid more than five times what #MaryPhagan had in her purse. They want us to believe Conley killed Mary for the $1.20 she had — hardly likely. And Conley would have had to assault her right next to the unlocked front door, in the highest-traffic part of the building, where anyone could come in at any time, and where several people had walked by in just the last few minutes — and all within 30 feet and easy earshot of his boss. And all this in 1913 Atlanta, where Black men accused of attacking White girls tended to have very short life expectancies. This is not a plausible story.

Leo Frank killed Mary Phagan. If the ADL gets Frank officially exonerated, as they are still trying to do today, it will be a Pyrrhic victory for them. It will be yet another reason to remember that Leo Frank, and the organized groups that defend him, are all guilty of unspeakable acts.

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

Mary Phagan-Kean's newly released second edition book: https://t.co/xRKpjkR3T1

Mary Phagan-Kean's, great niece of Mary Phagan, most recent newsletter: https://t.co/hl2nSobcoH...

Truth is on the March -- William J. Burns and the Great Leo Frank Case Carnival: https://t.co/420F34Rvzi

#truthmatters #truecrime #Georgia #metoo #truthwins #murdermystery #OTD #onthisday

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

RIP Little Mary Phagan (June 1, 1899 - April 26, 1913). Lighting a candle for you! #LittleMaryPhagan #RIPMaryPhagan

[Miz GiGi @GigiStratton]

@PhaganKean @FBIDirectorKash Anyone interested in the truth of #LeoFrank’s murder of 13 yr old Mary Phagan can examine trial transcripts, evidence, news reports, etc at https://t.co/kyPtsScNF7:

https://t.co/pZGSUj0JU5

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

OPEN LETTER TO PBS (@PBS) (@NewsHour) ABOUT IT'S BIASED DOCUMENTARY SEGMENT ON THE LEO FRANK CASE | POSTED APRIL 26, 2026

Dear PBS Board of Directors:

Paula Kerger, President

Chair Catherine Robb,

Co-Chair Geoff Sands and Jayme Swain

Members: Delores Fernandez Alonso, Mark G. Contreras, Bob Culkeen, Mildred Garcia, Anne Gates, Susan Goldberg, Chuck Hagel, Shae Hopkins, Marvin Irby, Larry Irving, Michael Isip, Gunjan Kedia, Becky Magura, Carla McCage, Sandra Cordova Micek, Luis Patino, Greg Petrowich, Vivian Riefberg, Tina Sharkey, Amy Shaw, Holden Thorp, and Ed Ulman

My name is Mary Phagan-Kean (@PhaganKean). I am the great-niece and namesake of little Mary Phagan (1899 - 1913), the thirteen-year-old girl murdered at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta on April 26, 1913. [1]

I am writing to express serious concern about Episode One of Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History, specifically the segment from approximately 39:36 to 46:00. [2] The program presents a highly inflammatory and contested interpretation of the Leo Frank case in a way that gives viewers the impression that key factual disputes have long been settled, when in fact some of the most important claims in that segment remain deeply disputed or are presented without necessary context. [3]

One of my chief concerns is the repetition of the famous claim that crowds outside the courthouse shouted, “Hang the Jew or we’ll hang you,” at the jury. Steve Oney, whose 2003 book has often been treated as a major modern account of the case, later said plainly that this story “didn’t happen” and that it was a later embellishment that became embedded in subsequent retellings. [4] At the same time, accuracy requires another clarification as well. Frank’s lawyers did later during appeals allege hostile public sentiment and mob domination in court, but the United States Supreme Court summarized the state courts’ position as being that those allegations had been “not sustained.” [5] A documentary shown on public television should make that distinction clearly. It should not blur the line between a later allegation, a later legend, and a fact established by the official record. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the sufficiency of the evidence at Leo Frank's trial to convict him.

The program also frames the undercurrent of Frank’s prosecution chiefly through antisemitism, but Frank’s own recorded statements complicate that picture and should not be omitted. In his 1914 interview with Abraham Cahan (founder of the Jewish Daily Forward), Frank said, “Anti-Semitism is absolutely not the reason for this libel that has been framed against me.” [6] That full statement matters. A fair documentary should not quote selectively in either direction, it should strive to be objective rather than an advocacy piece. It should let viewers see the complexity of the defendant’s own words rather than forcing the record into a simpler ideological paradigm.

In contemporaneous reporting as well, Frank publicly blamed a Black man for the crime. [7] Leo Frank also altered Newt Lee's time card, erasing 4 timestamps to incriminate him for the Mary Phagan murder. The death notes found next to the victim, Mary Phagan, described Newt Lee physically, including a misspelled version of his job title.

The legal record also deserves greater precision than the program gives it. Frank’s conviction was not left to a single unreviewed jury verdict. More than a dozen appeals and related petitions were pursued by his defense team and all failed. [8] The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his federal due process claim in Frank v. Mangum. [5] None of that, by itself, settles the historical debate for all time. But it does mean that a documentary owes viewers a careful distinction between later interpretations of the case and what the courts actually held at the time.

The pardon history is also frequently misstated and should have been handled more carefully. In 1983, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to grant Frank a [full] pardon [of exoneration] because it said it was impossible to decide conclusively his guilt or innocence. [9] In 1986, the board did grant a half-pardon, but it did so “without attempting to address the question of guilt or innocence.” [10] That was not a legal exoneration. [10] Any documentary that leaves viewers with the impression that innocence was officially established by the state is telling them something the pardon itself did not say. In 1995, Rabbi Steven Lebow, Philip Goldstein and others had the historical marker removed at the Phagan family grave plot because they were unhappy that the sign made clarified that Leo Frank had not been vindicated.

In part 4 beginning at 20:25 of this PBS series, Mr. Gates misinformed the public about the Nation of Islam’s book series: The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.  The Phagan family has recognized their superior scholarship with respect to the Leo Frank Case (Vol. 3) and we would challenge Mr. Gates and the producers of the PBS series to examine their 536-page work.  No other study of the case has been as comprehensive and analytical and all serious scholars of the case have acknowledged the Nation of Islam’s contribution including Dr. Jeffrey Melnick.

Current efforts to revisit the case only make accuracy more important. In April 2025, a spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said that the Conviction Integrity Unit had the Leo Frank case file under review and that a decision would be announced when the review was complete. If public institutions are going to revisit a 1913 conviction in 2026, then the public deserves full transparency about what new, verifiable evidence is said to justify that review. [11] My concern is not simply that your documentary took a side. My concern is that it presented a highly contested side as though it were settled history and omitted major pieces of evidence and procedure that would have helped viewers judge the matter for themselves.

A PBS documentary presumably carries a high-level of public trust. That trust is weakened when a program promotes partisan advocacy and repeats disputed claims without telling viewers that even widely cited modern accounts reject some of them. When a documentary blurs the difference between allegation and proof, and when it leaves out evidence that complicates its thesis in only one favorable direction, that's propaganda, not truth seeking, that's "agitprop," not objectivity. The Leo Frank case is controversial enough without additional partisan smoothing, over simplification, or selective presentation. A public audience deserves better than a one-sided retelling dressed up as settled history.

I respectfully ask that PBS and the producers correct or clarify this segment, or at minimum make room for the omitted documentary record, including the defendant’s own words, the procedural history of the appeals, and the exact language of the 1983 and 1986 pardon decisions.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Respectfully,

Mary Phagan-Kean | Posted on X, April 26, 2026

Great-niece and namesake of Mary Phagan
https://t.co/J3I52F2XEP

cc:  Mr. Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGate2 on X),

@pbsteachers @realDonaldTrump @PressSecDOW @KingsleyCortes

#LeoFrank #MaryPhagan #PBS #Atlanta #Georgia

Enclosed a 1913 photo of Mary Phagan colorized with AI on April 26, 2026

References

1. https://t.co/I8J1eMmYVB Editors. (2025, May 27). Murder in Atlanta pencil factory leads to lynching of Leo Frank. HISTORY.

2. Public Broadcasting Service. (2026, February 3). Let My People Go. In Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History. PBS.

3. Melnick, J. P. (2000). Black-Jewish relations on trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South. University Press of Mississippi. @melnickjeffrey1

4. Finnigan, D. (2004, February 5). Q & A with Steve Oney. Jewish Journal. Also see Oney, S. (2013, September 24). The People v. Leo Frank. Atlanta Magazine. @steveoneywriter

5. Frank v. Mangum, 237 U.S. 309 (1915). Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center.

6. Berger, P. (2013, August 30). Leo Frank case stirs debate 100 years after Jewish lynch victim’s conviction. The Forward. Also see Telling Story of Leo Frank From His Jail Cell. The Forward.

7. Mary Phagan’s Murder Was Work of a Negro Declares Leo M. Frank. (1913, May 31). The Atlanta Constitution. ProQuest Historical Newspapers reproduction surfaced via library scan.

8. Anti-Defamation League. (2009). The People v. Leo Frank teacher’s guide. Also see National Archives. (2025, May 29). Progressive Era: Leo Frank Petition. @ADL

10. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. (1986, March 12). Leo Frank is posthumously pardoned by Georgia board. Also see Leo Frank pardon denied. (1983, December 23). The Washington Post.

11. Dinnerstein, L. (2020, August 11). Leo Frank case. New Georgia Encyclopedia.

12. Quinn, P. (2025, April 3). With Broadway’s “Parade” in Atlanta, Fulton County DA says Leo Frank case is “under review”. Atlanta News First.

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

The sex-murder of the century happened on this day in 1913 on the second floor of the National Pencil Company building in #Atlanta, a sweatshop where child laborers, mostly young girls, spent their youth making pencils, earning only pennies an hour.

13-year-old Mary Phagan was one such girl. She came that day to the office to collect her pathetically meager $1.20 pay. There she met the sweatshop’s boss and part-owner, #LeoFrank, in his office on the second floor. Frank was also the president of the Atlanta chapter of the B’nai B’rith, a #Jewish organization that would spawn the #ADL later that same year. Yes, the same ADL we know today.

It was a holiday and no one else was working on that entire floor. Frank used a pretext to lure Mary to the work area in the back. He closed the doors behind them as they walked.

Near the rear wall, standing in front of a metal lathe next to the toilet entrance, Leo Frank did to Mary Phagan what he, according to numerous witnesses, had often done before with his teenage girl employees: He attempted to take sexual liberties with her. She resisted. Frank knocked her down forcibly, hitting her in the eye and striking her head against the unyielding metal lathe, opening a bloody gash. While she was stunned, he pulled her garments up above her waist and raped her right on the red-stained floor in front of the toilet, as she was lying in her own flowing blood.

When he was “done,” seeing the blood and doubtlessly realizing his predicament should Mary tell others of his actions, he found a piece of the twine used to pack supplies in his factory, wound it tightly around her neck, and strangled her to death. He then tore off a piece of her lace underwear, placed it around her neck as if it were a lace necklet — making sure it covered the marks of the strangling.

He then summoned the factory’s Black sweeper, Jim Conley, to enlist his aid in the moving and, he hoped, the burning of Mary Phagan’s body. Conley knew that Frank liked to “chat” in private with the prettier of his young girl employees, as he had kept watch for Frank on several occasions while such “chatting” took place. And, in fact, he was keeping watch for him near the factory’s first-floor entrance at that very moment. Frank told Conley that he had struck the girl and accidentally killed her. Frank was hoping the lace “necklet” might serve to conceal the strangling — at least conceal it from Conley. It could never fool police investigators. Conley and Frank moved Mary’s body to the basement.

After Mary's body was discovered, Frank and his legal team tried to frame the Black night watchman, Newt Lee, for the murder. Among other things, they forged his time card, and planted a fake bloody shirt at his residence. When that framing attempt failed, they tried to frame Jim Conley (and, 113 years later, Frank's advocates are still trying to frame him). They planted a fake “bloody club” and a forged "Mary Phagan pay envelope" near the place where Conley kept watch for Frank that day. But that forgery was exposed, too. The true evidence kept building up, and the proof was overwhelming that Frank was the killer. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

But Frank had something that ordinary defendants, Black or White, never have. He was not an “ordinary citizen.” He was an important official of the city's Jewish community — the head of the Atlanta division of the B’nai B’rith. He had the massive power, money, media ownership, and political influence of the organized Jewish community nationwide behind him. They refused to let the verdict stand. They funded a multimillion-dollar legal and PR campaign to get him a new trial, to make millions of gullible people believe he was innocent and a saint-like “victim of anti-Semitism,” and to get his sentence commuted. They were only partially successful. All his numerous and expensive appeals, which went all the way up to the US Supreme Court, failed. But they continue the propaganda campaign to this very day.

Never forget the life and death of Mary Phagan. Never forget that Leo Frank abused and raped her and then ended her young life. Never forget that he tried to frame two innocent Black men for the crime. And never forget that the media and the academic establishment have lied to you about this case for 113 years.

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

Mary Phagan-Kean's newly released second edition book: https://t.co/xRKpjkR3T1

Mary Phagan-Kean's, great niece of Mary Phagan, most recent newsletter: https://t.co/hl2nSobcoH...

Truth is on the March -- William J. Burns and the Great Leo Frank Case Carnival: https://t.co/420F34Rvzi

#murder #truthwins #truecrime #OTD #onthisday #metoo #Georgia

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

The truth is on the march...the truth of who murdered Mary Phagan in 1913.

In 1914, six days short of the first #anniversary of the strangulation-murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan by #Jewish businessman and B’nai B’rith official Leo M. Frank on #Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, the Frank case entered its most frenetic public phase. A major legal decision was slated to be dropped in a few days. By then, Frank had already been convicted of the gruesome #murder of Mary. But Frank’s defense team, flush with money from a national publicity campaign, was furiously working to get witnesses to reverse their testimony, and get Frank a new trial or exonerated one way or another — an exoneration effort that still continues today, led by Jewish groups including the #ADL (Anti-Defamation League).

Click here to read more of the newest article on Mary Phagan-Kean's website: https://t.co/420F34Rvzi

#LeoFrank #MaryPhagan #truth #murdermystery #truecrime #truthmatters

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 23rd, 1957

The widow of Leo Frank, Lucille, died in Atlanta, Georgia.

If you are interested in learning more about the wife of Leo Frank, her reaction to what was taking place with her husband throughout the investigation and its aftermath, here is a biographical article: https://t.co/oOGL5ZOTvW

It is unclear what Lucille truly thought about her husband and whether she viewed him as guilty or not. She did defend her husband very strongly throughout the trial, but it took her two weeks to even visit him in jail once he was confined. Perhaps the shock of what could be was too much for her -- or she knew, deep down, the #truth of what he did.

Interestingly, in her final will, she requested to go against the #Jewish tradition of being buried next to her husband and wanted her ashes to be spread around a local park in #Atlanta -- not with her husband in the Mount Carmel Cemetery.

There was also drama involving their maid, Minola McKnight, who came to the police station and stated that she overheard Lucille tell her mother that #LeoFrank confessed to Lucille that he murdered Mary Phagan and asked for a gun with which to shoot himself dead.

https://t.co/4PQdi4u9J1

"Miss Lucile [Selig Frank] said Sunday that Mr. [Leo] Frank told her Saturday night that he was in trouble, and that he didn’t know the reason why he would murder, and he told his wife to get his pistol and let him kill himself."

Minola also stated in an affidavit that when she left to go to the solicitor general's office, "they told me to mind how I talked." She also described how she was receiving increased pay after the #murder and "one week, I don't remember which one, Mrs. Selig gave me $5, but it wasn't for my work, and they didn't tell me what it was for, she just said, 'Here is $5, Minola.' I understood that it was a tip for me to keep quiet. They would tell me to mind how I talked and Miss Lucille gave me a hat."

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little #MaryPhagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#Georgia #truecrime #history #truthwins

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Mary Phagan Documentary and Second Edition of The Murder of Little Mary ... https://t.co/OaGbkxDqt0 via @YouTube

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

Join me on Friday, April 24, 2026, for an X Spaces conversation with NightNation (@RealNightNation). Come with your best questions ready!

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Why Should We Still Study the 113-Year-Old Murder of Mary Phagan?
...The Conviction Integrity Unit of Fulton County is Attempting to Exonerate Leo Frank of the Crime and is Lying to Achieve Their Goal

The Conviction Integrity Unit was started in 2019 under Paul Howard, Fulton County District Attorney. Nothing about this CIU included transparency regarding the #LeoFrank trial, in which the Unit was supposed to be investigating whether or not Leo Frank should be exonerated for the #murder of Mary Phagan. (Yes, after all of these years, there is a battle continuing to be fought between people who want to clear Frank's name and people who want to see justice remain.)

The Phagan family, who believe without a doubt that Leo Frank raped and murdered their loved and cherished family member, filed a Fulton County Open Records Request in 2019. The goal was to see all the records regarding the CIU and the Leo Frank case during its establishment and correspondence between Paul Howard and Roy Barnes, the governor at the time.

Interestingly, the response came back as: "Unfortunately, the files you have requested have been reported as destroyed from our archives center. Fulton's County retention policy states that all files are to be destroyed after 20 years." Well, nowhere near 20 years has passed since 2019, so what exactly is going on here and what is being hidden from the public, as well as the Phagan family themselves?

Roy Barnes has been working with Rabbi Steven Lebow (pictured) to get Leo Frank exonerated, but by using a multitude of lies to achieve this:

Lie: Leo Frank was lynched by the "Knights of Mary Phagan"
Truth: The people who lynched Leo Frank never called themselves by that name. They went by the Vigilance Committee. The #NewYorkTimes coined that name seven weeks before he was lynched.

Lie: The KKK was formed from the "Knights of Mary Phagan" in 1915
Truth: The KKK did not exist during the trial of Leo Frank, and only 3 members from the Frank lynching party attended the ceremony on Stone Mountain in 1915. The highly popular film, Birth of a Nation, was the real reason for the rebirth of the KKK.

Lie: Barnes recommends that law students should read And the Dead Shall Rise by Steve Oney to understand the "miscarriage of justice" that took place.
Truth: Steve Oney, the ADL's top historian for the case, himself has even admitted that "there was a reasonable case against Leo Frank." In 2023, he is quoted as stating: "Jim Conley and Frank had opportunity depending on your perspective. They might each have a motive. Hard to explain all the females who testified against Leo Frank, both at the trial and the May 8, 1913 coroner's inquest." It's funny how Barnes is recommending a book by an author who has not come to the final conclusion of Leo Frank is most definitely innocent.

Lie: Roy Barnes states that Trial Judge Leonard Roan believed Frank was innocent
Truth: There is no evidence of this being the case, and it also makes no sense based on the fact that he presided over the entire trial of Leo Frank. He could have called a mistrial, annulled the verdict, or imposed a life sentence instead. But Judge Roan chose to give Leo Frank the worst penalty -- death by hanging. Guilty.

#ADL #Atlanta #truecrime #history #law #Georgia #MaryPhagan #Lies #TruthExposed #TruthOut

To read the newsletters that this post was based off of, click below:
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To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 19th, 1915

The United States Supreme Court ruled against Leo M. Frank, and his execution was set for April 25th, 1915. This was yet another appeal by Leo Frank that was turned down by the Supreme Court of the United States. Could Leo Frank....maybe....actually be...guilty?

Yes, yes, he definitely could be. Multiple appeals to various courts, and each one declaring him guilty of the crime of murder.

The full list of his appeals (August 27th, 1913 to April 22, 1915):
1. An application to the Georgia Superior Court -- rejected as groundless.
2. Appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court -- rejected.
3. Second appeal to Georgia Supreme Court -- rejected as groundless.
4. Appeal to the United States Federal District Court -- found Frank's arguments unpersuasive and upheld the guilty verdict.
5. Appeal to the United States Supreme Court -- rejected.
6. Second appeal to the United States Supreme Court -- rejected again, allowing the guilty verdict to stand for the murder of Mary Phagan by strangulation.

Every single level of the United States legal system was appealed to, with each one carefully reviewing the trial testimony and evidence, and all coming to the same conclusion: Leo Frank was guilty. It seems highly unlikely that every member of the coroner's jury, the grand jury, the trial jury, judges of the trial court, Georgia Superior Court, Georgia Supreme Court, United States Federal District Court, and the United States Supreme Court were all anti-Semites.

#MaryPhagan #LeoFrank #Georgia #truecrime #Atlanta #law #murder #murdermystery #OTD #onthisday

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little Mary Phagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

[Justice for Mary Phagan @PhaganJustice]

Today in the Leo Frank Case: April 16th, 1914

On this day, #LeoFrank and his attorneys pushed again with a move for a new trial. Frank's execution was set for the following day (April 17th, 1914), but was then postponed with this new motion. A new court date was also set for April 23rd which automatically triggered a stay of execution.

This image shows Leo Frank's #lawyers, Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben Arnold.

To learn more about the Leo Frank case and the murder of little #MaryPhagan, please visit: https://t.co/E1KcJEduA0

#HistoryMatters #history #georgia #truecrime #murder #atlanta #law

[Mary Phagan-Kean @PhaganKean]

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