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Vernon Dalhart sings “Little Mary Phagan,“ a ballad about the murder in 1913 of a 13-year-old pencil factory worker. I've uploaded versions issued by Columbia, Cameo, and Gennett. Did Leo Max Frank kill the young Mary? It seems unlikely though it's impossible to say for certain. Leo Frank was convicted partly because of testimony given by Jim Conley, a factory sweeper who originally admitted nothing. After intense police questioning, Conley admitted incriminating facts which suggest Conley himself was the killer. What facts? Around the time she died, Jim wrote two mysterious “death notes“ (they are weird!). Also, Jim moved Mary Phagan's corpse--very incriminating! It was accepted in court that Conley wrote the notes and moved the corpse, but Conley insisted he did these acts under the direction of Leo Frank, which sounds preposterous. No money was found with the body, yet she collected money at noon. This was a motive for Conley? Local people were determined to see Leo Frank convicted (due to Frank being Jewish?). Jim Conley's self-incriminating words did not seem to matter enough. Mary was murdered on April 26, 1913. Her body was found in the filthy basement of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, Georgia. She had worked on the 2nd floor's metal room prior to that Saturday, but a shortage of materials led to Mary being laid off. She could expect to be hired again when until new supplies arrived. When she visited the factory, almost nobody was in the building since it was a Saturday. She collected wages and asked when she might be working again--would materials soon arrive? Her supervisor Leo M. Frank was convicted of the crime though we can see today that the collection of evidence had been botched. Publicity combined with mob passion made a fair trial impossible in Atlanta. The trial should have been moved. That he was Jewish in an anti-Semitic region also hurt him. The trial's course is open to criticism. Frank was sentenced to prison, but this did not satisfy Georgia residents who urged a death penalty. In 1915, Leo Frank was kidnapped from prison by over two dozen armed men. Frank was driven to Frey's Gin, near Marietta, and lynched. One source says it happened on Frey's Gin Road in Marietta. Frank was posthumously pardoned in 1986 on technical grounds. Even as late as 1986 the case was famous (or infamous), not forgotten. The pardon does not address Frank's guilt or innocence. “Fiddling John“ Carson popularized this song in Georgia in 1915. Carson viewed Leo Frank as the murderer though in our recorded version here, Dalhart sings the word “villain“ instead of Frank's name. Little Mary Phagan She left her home one day; She went to the pencil-factory To get her little pay. She left her home at eleven, She kissed her mother good-by; Not one time did the poor child think That she was a-going to die. Leo Frank he met her With a brutish heart, we know; He smiled, and said, “Little Mary, You won't go home no more.“ Sneaked along behind her Till she reached the metal-room; He laughed, and said, “Little Mary, You have met your fatal doom.“ Down upon her knees To Leo Frank she plead; He taken a stick from the trash-pile And struck her across the head. Tears flow down her rosy cheeks While the blood flows down her back; Remembered telling her mother What time she would be back. You killed little Mary Phagan, It was on one holiday; Called for old Jim Conley To carry her body away. He taken her to the basement, She was bound both hand and feet; Down in the basement Little Mary she did sleep. Newt Lee was the watchman Who went to wind his key; Down in the basement Little Mary he did see. Went in and called the officers Whose names I do not know; Come to the pencil-factory, Said, “Newt Lee, you must go.“ Taken him to the jail-house, They locked him in a cell; Poor old innocent negro Knew nothing for to tell. Have a notion in my head, When Frank he comes to die, Stand examination In a court-house in the sky. Come, all you jolly people, Wherever you may be, Suppose little Mary Phagan Belonged to you or me. Now little Mary's mother She weeps and mourns all day, Praying to meet little Mary In a better world some day. Now little Mary's in Heaven, Leo Frank's in jail, Waiting for the day to come When he can tell his tale. Frank will be astonished When the angels come to say, “You killed little Mary Phagan; It was on one holiday.“ Judge he passed the sentence, Then he reared back; If he hang Leo Frank, It won't bring little Mary back. Frank he's got little children, And they will want for bread; Look up at their papa's picture, Say, “Now my papa's dead.“ Judge he passed the sentence He reared back in his chair; He will hang Leo Frank, And give the negro a year. Next time he passed the sentence, You bet, he passed it well; Well, Solicitor Hugh Manson Dorsey. Sent Leo Frank to hell.
