An Informative Essay: The Murder Of Mary Phagan

Ever since the murder of Mary Phagan, which occurred on April 26, 1913, there has been a lot of discussions of who may have called the sweet, little Mary Phagan. Could have it been the black man, Jim Conley, or was it the white, Jewish man, Leo Frank? Did the killer get away with murder, or was justice served through the act of lynching? During this time, no one could have convinced another person that Jim Conley indeed killed Mary Phagan, but that Leo Frank was the definite killer in the eyes of the people. The point that everyone can agree upon is that the murder of Mary Phagan could never be forgotten.

Who was Mary Phagan?

Mary Phagan was born on June 1, 1900 in Marietta, Georgia. Her parents were John and Frances Phagan. There is still

Since this was also the day of Confederate Memorial Day she had planned to stay for the parade after she had picked up her wages for the week. She arrived at the company around noon that day. Mary Phagan was dressed in a pretty lavender dress that her Aunt Lizzie had made for her. She carried around a small umbrella to keep her safe from the sun and a silver mesh bag made in Germany. Her long red hair was tied up in ribbons and she was as beautiful as little girls come. After she made it into the National Pencil Company, no one knows what happened after that. At 3 in the morning, Newt Lee, the watchmen, found Mary Phagan’s body near the coal bin. Just looking at her Newt Lee knew she had been brutally raped and beaten. In 1906, history’s most remembered racial riots and Newt Lee, being a black man, was afraid to lie even if he had wanted to. Soon after, he ran up the staircase and phoned the police. There were two notes lying beside her body, but according to her Grandmother Fannie, Mary did not write these notes. On April 27, 1913 was the day that her family found out that she had been murdered. The little body of Mary was taken to Bloomfield to be investigated. Her funeral was April 29, 1913 and her casket was surrounded by

Newt lee was the watchman of the National Pencil Company. Newt Lee was later proved innocent of this crime. Also, he was the president of the chapter locally of B’nai B’rith. Leo Frank was not under arrest until three days after they had found the body of Mary. The police only considered Leo Frank just a material witness until the arrest. Leo Frank was only considered guilty of this murder because of Jim Conley’s testimony, a few coincidences, and passionate persuasive content on the audience. If Conley’s testimony was correct than he was the last person to see Mary Phagan alive. The third suspect came later, Jim Conley. He was the black sweeper in the National Pencil Company. He was not considered a suspect until someone witnessed him cleaning red stains out of his clothing in the back of the factory. Jim Conley also admitted to be able to write, since there were two written murder notes beside the body of Mary Phagan; this gave Jim Conley strike two. The police also knew that he already had a pretty long criminal record. Conley did admit that he did carry Mary Phagan’s body to the basement, but only because Leo Frank had ordered him to. The two real suspects that everyone was so worried about was Jim Conley and Leo