Officer Swears He Found Frank With Young Girl
Special policeman volunteers damaging testimony after recognizing suspect in jail tower; Pinkerton force expanded as solicitor denies knowledge of screams affidavit
Sunday, May 11th, 1913
A Volunteer Witness Comes Forward
A special policeman named Robert P. House has come forward with testimony that investigators say could be used to damage the character of Leo M. Frank, the superintendent of the National Pencil Factory and the principal suspect in the murder of Mary Phagan.
House, employed by the Druid Hills Land Company as a private officer on their property, told Atlanta detectives that more than a year ago he apprehended Frank and a young girl together in a secluded area of Druid Hills Park, and that Frank admitted on the spot that the two had come to the woods for immoral purposes.
House volunteered the information himself. When he first read accounts of the Phagan murder in the newspapers, the incident came back to him. Recalling that the man had identified himself at the time as superintendent of the National Pencil Factory, House went directly to the detective department. An officer then escorted him to Frank's cell in the Tower to make an identification. House emerged from the jail and stated without hesitation that Frank was the man he had found in the park.
Frank gave no sign of recognition during the visit, and neither man spoke. The detectives had arranged it so that the purpose of House's visit to the jail would not be apparent to the prisoner.
What the Policeman Says He Saw
House says the incident took place on a summer afternoon sometime after 2 o'clock, more than a year ago. He had observed Frank entering the park on several prior occasions with a young female companion, and on this particular afternoon decided to follow him.
As Frank and the girl stepped off the Ponce de Leon to Druid Hills trolley at the end of the line, House trailed them on foot into a swampy stretch of woodland well off the main roadway. The girl appeared young, he said, and wore a dress that fell slightly above her shoe tops. The two entered a spot hidden from view by trees and thick shrubbery.
House watched for several minutes before stepping into the open. At that point, he says, Frank jumped to his feet and moved quickly toward the policeman before House could get a clear look at the girl.
According to House, Frank said: "I don't want you to see the girl. I admit that we came here for immoral purpose. Please don't make a case against us or arrest us. It would disgrace us both. We will leave instantly."
House told him no arrest would be made but ordered both of them out of the park. Frank, he said, was profusely grateful. House watched the two walk away over a hill in the direction of the Clifton car line back to the city. He says he never got a clear look at the girl's face and would not be able to identify her.
House has been a special officer for two years and a county policeman for five years before that. He is married with seven children and lives on Druid Hills Land Company property. He has already signed a statement and declared his willingness to testify before any jury or court. Detectives say they intend to call him as a character witness against Frank.
Dorsey Denies Knowing of Screams Affidavit
Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey effectively distanced himself Saturday from reports of an affidavit signed by a woman who claimed to have heard screams coming from the pencil factory basement on the afternoon of the murder.
"If Chief Lanford has such an affidavit I have not seen it," Dorsey said when pressed on the matter. "I have a number of affidavits made out and delivered to me by the detective force, and I have not had time to read all of them, but if this particular affidavit is among them I am not aware of it."
Dorsey also stated that neither he nor his privately retained investigator had turned up any new evidence within the past 24 hours.
"There is nothing that I can divulge at present, and to tell the truth, there have been no new clues secured within the past twenty-four hours," he said. "We are working on the case, and before I present it to the grand jury I want to have the tangled ends caught up and the evidence arranged so that the grand jury will not be delayed once proceedings begin."
He declined to give a firm date for when the grand jury would take up the matter.
Two Conferences Held in Secrecy
Dorsey held two separate conferences Saturday, both shrouded in the same secrecy he has maintained throughout the investigation.
In the first, held early in the day, he met privately with Dr. H. F. Harris of the State Board of Health for nearly an hour. Neither man would say what was discussed beyond confirming the meeting had taken place.
Late in the afternoon, Mrs. Arthur White came to the solicitor's office for a private conversation. Dorsey declined to comment on that meeting as well.
The Mystery Detective
Chief Lanford told reporters Saturday night that he continues to believe Dorsey's celebrated mystery investigator, touted by the solicitor as the nation's finest, is simply a capable member of the solicitor's existing staff.
"He has some mighty good men connected with his office," Lanford said, "and I see no need why he should employ any world-beater detective to assist him. I don't think he has."
Dorsey would not engage with the question at all, saying only: "Nothing, except he's the best in the country." He refused to name the man or even reveal where he lives.
Pinkertons Expand Their Force
Three additional Pinkerton operatives were added to the investigation Saturday, bringing the agency's total on the case to five. All are under the command of Assistant Superintendent Harry Scott, formerly the head of the Pinkerton branch in Philadelphia.
Pinkerton officials repeated their assertion that the public, through newspaper coverage, has now been made aware of all the essential evidence uncovered so far. They expressed satisfaction with the progress of the investigation and pledged to continue working the case with full energy.
Chief Lanford noted that his detectives alone have traveled approximately 1,800 miles since Mary Phagan's body was found two weeks ago, most of it spent chasing down the flood of rumors that poured into headquarters in the days following the discovery. He added that more ground has been covered in the Phagan investigation than in any three previous cases handled by the Atlanta police department combined.
Solicitor Dorsey's office is expected to have questioned upward of 300 witnesses by the time the grand jury proceedings begin. Among those interviewed Saturday was J. M. Gantt, arrested briefly last week as a suspect and subsequently released.