Businessman, Murderer. In 1913, he was accused of raping and murdering a 13 year-old girl, Mary Phagan, who was employed by the pencil factory he supervised (Jim Conley, a sweeper at the factory was another suspect in the murder). He was convicted and his death sentence was upheld through three appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court and two appeals to the United States Supreme Court. However, his execution sentence was commuted by Governor John M. Slaton on June 21, 1915. Although Governor Slaton stated that he believed Leo Frank was innocent, it should be noted that he was a name-partner in the law firm defending Leo Frank (Rosser, Brandon, Slaton & Phillips). Leo Frank was taken from the Milledgeville Prison Farm by a lynch mob on the night of August 15-16, 1915, having been at the Milledgeville Prison Farm (the equivalent of the State Penitentiary) since his death sentence was commuted in June, 1915. The lynch mob hanged him from a tree limb. Many individuals believe that he was innocent and that his conviction was based on the anti-Semitism of the time. Others believe that the editorials of Tom Watson, a Georgia Populist politician and publisher, which encouraged the public to inflict the death sentence upon Leo Frank on their own, were what instigated the lynch mob. No one was ever prosecuted for his murder. In 1986, in a secretive proceeding held by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, Leo Frank was posthumously pardoned based on an affidavit from Alonzo Mann, who stated that he had seen Jim Conley carrying Mary Phagan's limp body to the basement on April 26, 1913.
Businessman, Murderer. In 1913, he was accused of raping and murdering a 13 year-old girl, Mary Phagan, who was employed by the pencil factory he supervised (Jim Conley, a sweeper at the factory was another suspect in the murder). He was convicted and his death sentence was upheld through three appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court and two appeals to the United States Supreme Court. However, his execution sentence was commuted by Governor John M. Slaton on June 21, 1915. Although Governor Slaton stated that he believed Leo Frank was innocent, it should be noted that he was a name-partner in the law firm defending Leo Frank (Rosser, Brandon, Slaton & Phillips). Leo Frank was taken from the Milledgeville Prison Farm by a lynch mob on the night of August 15-16, 1915, having been at the Milledgeville Prison Farm (the equivalent of the State Penitentiary) since his death sentence was commuted in June, 1915. The lynch mob hanged him from a tree limb. Many individuals believe that he was innocent and that his conviction was based on the anti-Semitism of the time. Others believe that the editorials of Tom Watson, a Georgia Populist politician and publisher, which encouraged the public to inflict the death sentence upon Leo Frank on their own, were what instigated the lynch mob. No one was ever prosecuted for his murder. In 1986, in a secretive proceeding held by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, Leo Frank was posthumously pardoned based on an affidavit from Alonzo Mann, who stated that he had seen Jim Conley carrying Mary Phagan's limp body to the basement on April 26, 1913.
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