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The Atlanta Journal,

Monday, 20th October 1913,

PAGE 1, COLUMNS 1, 3, & 6.

NAMED IN PHAGAN CASE BY FISHER,

HE TREATS ACCUSATION AS JOKE J. C. SHIRLEY.

I. W. Fisher, Who Says He Knows Who Killed

Mary Phagan

IRA

W.

FISHER

PAGE 1, COLUMN 6

"FISHER IS A LUNATIC AND HIS STORY IS A PIPE DREAM, THAT NOBODY WILL BELIEVE"

Informed by The Journal That He Is the Man Named by Fisher as Having Had an Engagement to Meet Mary Phagan on the Day of Her Death in National Pencil Factory,

Well Known Marietta Street

Merchant Is Astonished and Amused

HE SAYS HE KNOWS FISHER, BUT CAN'T IMAGINE ANY REASON FOR HIS MENTIONING HIM IN PHAGAN CASE His Full Story Is Given Below Frank's Attorneys Now Attach No Importance to Fisher's Tale

The Journal's Sweeping investigation Reveals Man's History

Wife, Brother and Sister Don't Believe Him

J.C. SHIRLEY, well known and highly respected furniture dealer, of 809 Marietta street, the man named according to Birmingham dispatches, by I. W. Fisher as the principal of his sensational story about the Mary Phagan murder, treats the whole matter as a huge joke.

Mr. Shirley learned Monday from The Journal that Fisher had named him as the man, who talked to him the morning of the murder, saying that he had an engagement with Mary Phagan about noon of the day at the factory and who later told him he had met Mary and played "hell."

After an exclamation of surprise that he should be the principal of Fisher's story, Mr. Shirley remarked:

"Why the man is crazy a fit subject for any lunatic asylum."

Mr. Shirley declares that he knows Fisher quite well because the mysterious witness"

at one time lived in the house at 811 Marietta street, next to his furniture store, of which he was a customer.

"I can't understand why the man should have picked me out to name as the principal of his story."

"So far as I know he has absolutely no reason to entertain any malice against me. He must be just crazy."

"So I am the prominent merchant in the case," laughed the furniture dealer.

"Why, I don't remember having seen Fisher since he left the house next door many months ago."

"Then he purchased quite a bit of furniture from me and was paying for it on time.

When they lived next door to the store Mrs. Fisher took in boarders, some of whom remained after she had her trouble with her husband."

"Fisher was not meeting the payments on the furniture, so Mrs. Fisher came to me and said that she would make the payments if I transferred the title of the furniture to her, so that he could not come and take it away from her. I did this and she paid the full price of the furniture."

"This was my principal connection with the man, except that he used to loaf around the store a bit. I certainly can't see why he decided to name me."

Fisher said in his narration that he and Mr. Shirley delivered furniture at the Coleman home and both met Mary Phagan that way.

Mr. Shirley states that he knows Mrs. Coleman, Mary's mother, having sold her some small pieces of furniture, when both of them lived in East Point, but he doesn't remember the girl at all.

Frank Shirley, brother of the head of the furniture store, who also works there, states that he knew Mary Phagan and Mrs. Coleman, too. He never delivered a load of furniture to them, however, in company with Fisher, he says.

THREATENS CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

While J. C. Shirley laughs at Fisher's accusations, 'his brother, Frank, is highly indignant at the man, and intimates that he will urge his brother to bring criminal proceedings against Fisher on the ground of malicious libel.

Frank Shirley states that he also knows Fisher, but not well.

According to Birmingham dispatches, Fisher declares that he formerly worked for Mr. Shirley.

The latter denies this most positively.

He doesn't remember, he says, ever having given the man even odd jobs about the place.

Frank Shirley called attention to the statement of Fisher that the mysterious principal had been furnishing him money to keep away from Atlanta.

"Well," remarked Frank Shirley, "he must have envelopes or cancelled checks or something to show for that."

J. C. Shirley expressed confidently his belief that by Monday night Fisher's story will be completely exploded, and so, he declared, he was not going to let it worry him.

"I have not been connected with the man in any of the ways he says," said Mr. Shirley, "and I can account for his story in no way except that he is a lunatic, any my name came to his head when he was telling the story."

The furniture man named by Fisher is doing a thriving business on Marietta street, and enjoys the confidence and respect of the people.

of the neighborhood as well as people generally over the city with whom he has been associated.

A number of neighbors spoke highly of him, declaring that he would be a wealthy man at this time had it not been for his kindness in extending unlimited credit to unfortunates.

Mr. Shirley talked about Fisher freely when told by The Journal that he had been named, and he said that he was willing to repeat his statements to any one who care to talk to him, or to Fisher himself.

GETS NEWS FROM JOURNAL.

The first intimation that he had been named by Fisher as the principal of the story came to Mr. Shirley through The Journal.

At 1 o'clock Monday afternoon, when a Journal reporter called on the furniture dealer, he had not been interviewed either by investigators in the employ of the defense or by the city detectives.

The city authorities were given Mr. Shirley's name and address on Sunday afternoon at the office of Attorney Rosser, but up to 1 o'clock Monday they had made no effort to communicate with him nor was he being "shadowed."

THE JOURNAL'S REVELATIONS.

Sweeping investigations by The Journal have brought to light every important fact in connection with I. W. Fisher and his sensational story about the Phagan murder.

Through its Birmingham correspondent The Journal secured the name of the man mentioned by Fisher.

Through interviews with Mrs. Fisher, the wife, with Mrs. Alf Stallings, his sister, who lives at 305 Houston Street, and his brother, Marion Fisher, of Rome, Fisher's life history was secured.

Probation Officer Coogler has added the man's police record.

The full story in all of its varied features, is given below.

ROSSER AND ARNOLD ATTACH NO IMPORTANCE TO THE STORY NOW

Attorneys Luther Z. Rosser and Reuben R. Arnold on Monday gave out an additional statement relative to the I. W. Fisher story.

"We attach no importance now to the story," the attorneys said.

"And would have quietly investigated it had it not been for the un(Continued on Page Two.)

PAGE 2, COLUMN 1

J. C. Shirley, Named By Fisher in Phagan Case, Laughs at Accusations (Continued From Page 1.)

fortunate fact that it came into the hands of the newspapers.

"This is similar to many sensational statements which have come to us, that we have investigated and found to be worthless."

"In this case we make up our minds about nothing until it has been exhaustively investigated and put to the test of corroboration."

"Many statements of theories and fact have come to us that have been so palpably absurd that we have not even taken the trouble to investigate them."

"Nothing would probably have ever been said of this matter, had not the incident come into the possession of the newspapers."

POLICE RECORD OF I. W.

FISHER IS REVEALED BY PROBATION OFFICER

The record kept by Probation Officer Coogler of I. W. Fisher shows that he was arrested four times for wife-beating, twice put on probation, once bound over on this charge, and the last time jailed on a peace warrant sworn out by Mrs. Fisher, following which he left Atlanta last April.

The record starts with November of last year.

It shows that Fisher is now thirty-five years of age and has a wife and two children living.

The record:

On November 24, 1912, Fisher was arrested for being drunk and disorderly, for abusing and maltreating his wife and for neglecting his family.

He was put on probation, keeping straight until December 24, 1912, when he is said to have broken his pledge.

When it was shown that he had tried to maintain his obligations toward his wife and children, he was given another trial under the care of the Christian Helpers' league.

On February 1.

Fisher hurt himself in a fall and was taken to the Grady hospital.

During his illness his family was aided by his employer.

whose name is not given.

On February 21, 1913.

Fisher, who had returned to his family, was again arrested on the charge of beating his wife and using profanity in the presence of several witnesses whose names are given as Mr.

and Mrs. C. A. Bradley, Mrs. Harry Campbell and a Mr. Jackson.

He was bound over for wife beating and stayed in jail until April 10, when he was freed on his own bond.

He returned to his wife, but on May 15 was hailed before a justice of the peace on a peace warrant issued by Mrs. Fisher.

He was recommitted to jail, staying there two days, when he was let out on his promise to leave Atlanta.

He did so, the last word being heard from him in Parkersville, Tenn., from which place he wrote to Probation Officer Coogler asking him to send his trunk along.

Mr. Coogler has had several letters from Fisher since that time.

Attorney T. J. Lewis, of the law firm of Poole & Lewis, who brought suit for divorce against Fisher for Mrs. Fisher, gave out a statement Monday morning in which he said that from the evidence he had gathered for the divorce case he was satisfied that Fisher is a confirmed drunkard.

"I believe, too," said Mr. Lewis, "that he is addicted to the use of drugs and narcotics, and in my opinion this habit has deranged his mind to such an extent that he is not mentally responsible."

WIFE SAYS MAN IS IRRESPONSIBLE;

SISTER DOES NOT BELIEVE HIM

Ira W. Fisher, who declares that Leo M. Frank is innocent of the murder of Mary Phagan, Sunday night was labelled as an irresponsible drunkard by his wife, Mrs. Annie Fisher, of 734 Marietta street, by his sister, Mrs. Alf Stallings of 305 Houston street, and by his sister's husband.

Mrs. Fisher told The Journal that she believes her husband either is telling a false story with some deep-laid motive or is reciting the wild dream of a drunkard or a "dope fiend."

Fisher's alleged statement that he left Atlanta immediately after the murder is denied by his wife.

He lived with her until August 12, she said, when he left before papers that she filed the day before, asking divorce and alimony, could be served.

She does not know, she said, whether she will push the divorce proceedings until after she has consulted her lawyer.

Her beliefs are shared by Mr. and Mrs. Stallings.

"I can't believe a word my brother says," declared Mrs. Stallings.

"I would hardly believe him under oath."

"He has told me some of the wildest tales I ever heard," said Mr. Stallings.

"At the time I believed them, for he talked with a straight face, but since I've found them untrue."

Fisher, declared his wife, is a drunkard who at times is entirely irresponsible.

He once was tried on a lunacy writ taken out by his brother, a prominent business man of Rome, Ga., she said, but declared sane and put on probation.

She often has suspected him of using morphine, she declared, and had accused him of doing so.

Fisher left her, she said, on August 12.

The only time she heard him express an opinion as to the identity of the Phagan murderer, she said, was one night, when reading a newspaper, he remarked, "They haven't got the guilty man. Frank didn't murder Mary Phagan."

TELLS JOURNAL HER STORY.

Mrs. Fisher told The Journal frankly the complete story of her own relations with Fisher.

They were married in Dalton, Ga., thirteen years ago, she said, moved to Marietta a few years later, and lived there until three years ago when they moved to Atlanta.

Fisher, she said, has long been a drinking man.

She declared that Fisher, she said, has long been a drinking man.

She declared that when sober, he was absolutely rational; when drinking, little short of a maniac.

Several times, she said, Fisher had threatened to shoot her.

Within the past year he had been arrested, she said, at her request, because he had threatened to take her life.

"When he threatened to kill me," said Mrs. Fisher, "Officer Clarke, who is a friend of his, pleaded with me not to sue him for divorce, but to let him go on probation.

I consented and Probation Officer Coogler kept him on probation for four months.

It was no use."

FILES SUIT FOR DIVORCE.

Relations grew so strained, she said, that finally, on August 11, through an attorney named Lewis, whose offices are in the Fourth NaPAGE 2, COLUMN 2

tional building, she filed suit for divorce and alimony for the support of their two children.

Fisher heard of this, she said, and on August 12, before papers could be served on him, left.

Since that time, she has taken boarders, and worked at dressmaking, she said.

Soon after Fisher left, his wife said, she had a letter from Parkville, Tenn., and on September 3 she had another letter from him at Avondale, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham.

Fisher wanted to return and live with her, she said.

"He wrote to me, but I didn't write to him," said his wife.

"I felt that I couldn't live with him again."

"I'm afraid of him," said Mrs. Fisher when told that her husband was in Atlanta.

"I'm afraid he'll kill me. He has tried to steal the children and has threatened my life."

"Are you sure that he's locked up?" she asked frantically.

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm going to my sister's. I'm afraid to stay here."

Fisher's friends, she said, practically all were drinking men.

She didn't recall any names.

"He would bring his friends home when he was drinking," she said, and I would leave."

Mrs. Fisher said that at the time of the Phagan murder her husband was employed at the Gate City Coffin factory.

The Saturday of the murder, she said, a holiday, he went to the city during the morning and paid Norman C. Miller, in Commerce hall, $10 that was due on the house they were living in at 797 Marietta street.

That afternoon, she said, Fisher returned home and took her and his sister, Mrs. Stallings, to see the Memorial day parade.

"We went to town on a street car," she said, "and got there about 3 o'clock.

It was too late for the parade, so Mr. Fisher took my sister and myself to a moving picture show on Peachtree street.

He didn't go to the show himself, but when we came out, he was waiting for us.

We then came home.

I think he went to town that night, but I'm not certain. He was not drinking on that day.

I would never go out with him when he had been drinking."

TOLD OF THE MURDER.

"The next Sunday morning," she went on, "just after breakfast we went to the drug store (about a block away).

On the way back we met a man I didn't know.

He said Fisher, I've got something to tell you.'

Mr. Fisher stopped and I went on to the house.

Mr. Fisher soon came on home and told me that the man had told him a girl had been killed at the pencil factory.

"Later, when I was reading about the case in the paper, I saw a picture of Mullinax.

This looks like the man you met Sunday morning," I told Mr. Fisher, but he didn't answer.

"That afternoon he suggested that we go to the pencil factory.

We went with our little girl Evelyn, and Lillie Embree, a young woman who was boarding with us then.

Mr. Fisher didn't seem nervous."

"He seemed to read a lot about the case and one night said They haven't got the guilt man.' I said You don't know whether they have or not.' He answered that Frank didn't murder the girl."

"He may have mentioned the case at other times. I don't remember. I didn't know the Phagan girl. If he did, I didn't know it."

Mrs. Fisher said that she had kept a diary in which she set down the date of everything out of the ordinary that occurred between her and Fisher.

She explained this to him once, she said, by saying, "I may need this some day."

Since then, she said, the diary has disappeared.

"I think he got out little boy to slip it out to him," she said, "for fear I would use it against him."

The Fishers have two children Evelyn, a bright eyed little girl of eight years, and James Lee, a boy of twelve.

Fisher has a brother, Marion.

who is associated with Ed Holder in (Continued on Page Three.)

PAGE 3, COLUMN 1

Fisher Sticks to His Story;

Frank Lawyers Isolate Him

Shield Name of Accused (Continued From Page 2.)

years ago, she said, moved to Marietta a few years later, and lived there until three years ago when they moved to Atlanta.

Fisher, she said, has long been a drinking man.

She declared that when sober, he was absolutely rational; when drinking, little short of a maniac.

Several times, she said, Fisher had threatened to shoot her.

Within the past year he had been arrested, she said, at her request, because he had threatened to take her life.

"When he threatened to kill me," said Mrs. Fisher, "Officer Clarke, who is a friend of his, pleaded with me not to sue him for divorce, but to let him go on probation.

I consented and Probation Officer Coogler kept him on probation for four months.

It was no use."

FILES SUIT FOR DIVORCE.

Relations grew so strained, she said, that finally, on August 11, through an attorney named Lewis, whose officers are in the Fourth National building, she filed suit for divorce and alimony for the support of their two children.

Fisher heard of this, she said, and on August 12, before papers could served on him, left.

Since that time she has taken boarders, and worked at dressmaking, she said.

Soon after Fisher left, his wife said, she had a letter from Parkville, Tenn., and on September 3 she had another letter from him at Avondale, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham.

Fisher wanted to return and live with her, she said.

"He wrote to me, but I didn't write to him," said his wife.

"I felt that I couldn't live with him again."

"I'm afraid of him," said Mrs. Fisher when told that her husband was in Atlanta.

"I'm afraid he'll kill me. He has tried to steal the children and has threatened my life."

"Are you sure that he's locked up?" she asked frantically.

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm going to my sister's. I'm afraid to stay here."

Fisher's friends, she said, practically all were drinking men.

She didn't recall any names.

"He would bring his friends home when he was drinking," she said, "and I would leave."

Mrs. Fisher said that at the time of the Phagan murder her husband was employed at the Gate City Coffin factory.

The Saturday of the murder, she said, a holiday, he went to the city during the morning and paid Norman C. Miller, in Commerce hall, $10 that was due on the house they were living in at 797 Marietta street.

That afternoon, she said, Fisher returned home and took her and his sister, Mrs. Stallings, to see the Memorial day parade.

"We went to town on a street car," she said, "and got there about 3 o'clock.

It was too late for the parade, so Mr. Fisher took my sister and myself to a moving picture show on Peachtree street.

He didn't go to the show himself, but when we came out, he was waiting for us.

We then came home.

I think he went to town that night, but I'm not certain. He was not drinking on that day.

I would never go out with him when had been drinking."

TOLD OF THE MURDER.

"The next Sunday morning," she went on, "just after breakfast we went to the drug store (about a block away).

On ethe way back we met a man I didn't know.

He said Fisher, I've got something to tell you.'

Mr. Fisher stopped and I went on to the house.

Mr. Fisher soon came on home and told me that the man had told him a girl had been killed at the pencil factory."

"Later, when I was reading about the case in the paper, I saw a picture of Mullinax This looks like the man you met Sunday morning,' I told Mr. Fisher, but he didn't answer."

"That afternoon he suggested that we go to the pencil factory.

We went with our little girl Evelyn, and Lillie Embree, a young woman who was boarding with us then, Mr. Fisher didn't seem nervous."

"He seemed to read a lot about the case and one night said They haven't got the guilty man.' I said You don't know whether they have or not.' He answered that Frank didn't murder the girl."

"He may have mentioned the case at other times. I don't remember. I didn't know the Phagan girl. If he did, I didn't know it."

Mrs. Fisher said that she had kept a diary in which she set down the date of everything out of the ordinary that occurred between her and Fisher.

She explained this to him once, she said, by saying, "I may need this some day."

Since then, she said, the diary has disappeared.

"I think he got out little boy to slip it out to him," she said, "for fear I would use it against him."

The Fishers have two children Evelyn, a bright eyed little girl of eight years, and James Lee, a boy of twelve.

Fisher has a brother, Marion, who is associated with Ed Holder in the lumber business in Rome.

His brother had tried, she said, to have him adjudged insane, as had Probation Officer Coogler.

Fisher's brother is well off, said Mrs. Fisher.

Soon after learning that her husband was in Atlanta, Mrs. Fisher went to the home of his sister, Mrs. Stallings.

SISTER DOESN'T BELIEVE STORY.

Mrs. Stallings told The Journal that she had heard from her brother about two months ago in Birmingham.

"He said he was going to a hospital and take the drink cure," she said.

"Later he said that the cure tore him all up. I haven't any of his letters now, because I burn them as soon as I read them.

I don't think he knows a thing about the Phagan case. He drinks so much, he hardly ever tells the truth."

Pipedream, Nothing More, Say Detectives of Story

"A pipe dream and nothing more," is thew ay city detectives characterize the story of I.

W. Fisher, the man who started the Birmingham chief of police a day or two ago when he walked into the latter's office a day or two ago when he walked into the latter's office and declared that Leo M. Frank was innocent of the murder of Mary Phagan; that the crime was committed by another and that he was in possession of facts which would completely exonerate Frank.

Fisher was brought to Atlanta early Sunday morning by Captain C. W. Burke, a private detective employed in Frank's defense.

He was immediately to the offices of Attorney Luther Z. Rosser, in the Grant building, where he was closely questioned all day by Attorneys Rosser, Reuben R. Arnold, Herbert Haas and Captain Burke.

DETECTIVES THWARTED.

Every effort of the city detectives and the newspaper men to interview Fisher was thwarted by Mr. Rosser, who declined to even allow them to get a glimpse of his witness.

Relays of detectives, reporters and photographers maintained an all-day and all-night vigil in the Grant building in the hope that Fisher would be taken from Mr. Rosser's office.

The detectives were under orders from Chief Newport A. Lanford to take Fisher in charge when he got upon the street and to bring him to police headquarters where they could put him through a thorough examination.

The newspaper men wished to hear Fisher's story from his own lips and to question him on certain points of his narrative and the photographers desired to snapshot or flashlight him for their papers.

Up to 8 o'clock Monday morning Fisher was still a voluntary prisoner in Mr. Rosser's offices.

Food was taken to him from a downtown restaurant and he spent the night on a couch.

STATEMENT IN SHORTHAND.

After quizzing Fisher all day Sunday and having his statement taken down in shorthand, Mr. Rosser invited the newspaper men into his office and briefly recounted to them the story which Fisher had told.

Fisher was shut up in another office at the time.

Before beginning the story, Mr. Rosser cautioned the newspaper men that neither he, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Haas nor Captain Burke vouched for its truth.

"it may and it may not be true," said Mr. Rosser.

"Fisher may be one of the countless cranks who bob up in such cases.

We have received hundreds of letters and telegrams from such cranks.

However, we are going to make a thorough investigation of the story."

FISHER'S STORY.

Then Mr. Rosser addressed the newspaper men as follows:

"This man, who says his name is I. W. Fisher, and that he is a former Atlantian with a wife and two children now residing in this city, declares that on April 26, the day that Mary Phagan was murdered, he drove downtown in a wagon with a well known Atlanta man; that this man, whose name I am not at liberty to mention now, confided to him (Fisher) that he had an appointment at the pencil factory with Mary Phagan about noon; that at Marietta and Forsyth streets the unnamed man left the wagon, telling Fisher to hold his horse for him; that a half an hour or such matter later the unnamed man returned very much excited and told Fisher:

MUST LEAVE TOWN.

"

I have played hell something awful has happened at the factory and because of what you know you must leave town; that the unnamed man supplied Fisher with money to leave; that Fisher left either on that day or a day or two later, going first to north Georgia, then to Tennessee, and finally to Birmingham, where he has been employed as a pipeman by the Louisville and Nashville railroad; that the unnamed man continued to supply him with money; that Fisher had learned of Leo M. Frank's indictment, but believing that he would be acquitted, he kept his secret; that after Frank's conviction his conscience troubled him and being unwilling that an innocent man should suffer, he had decided to tell all he knew; that he then went to Chief Bodeker, of the Birmingham police, with his story, and later told it to Captain Burke; that he willingly accompanied Captain Burke back to Atlanta."

DECLINES DETAILS.

Mr. Rosser was urged for more details, but declined to make any further statement, saying he had told the substance of Fisher's story.

He also refused to make public the name of the man accused by Fisher, saying that he didn't care to do any man an injustice.

Mr. Rosser, however, stated that he had told the city detectives the name of this man, and that Fisher had revealed it to the Birmingham chief.

"We called Detectives Starnes and Waggoner in here," said Mr. Rosser, "and proposed to them that they join with Captain Burke, who is representing us, in a thorough and searching investigation of Fisher's story, but they declined, saying that they would use their own discretion as to the kind of investigation they would make.

We thought our proposition was an eminently fair one."

OF UNKEMPT APPEARANCE.

Hundreds had read in the morning papers that the mysterious witness would arrive during the morning, and the result was that throughout Sunday the Grant building was thronged by persons curious to see him and learn what it was he had to tell.

Among those who came was J. W. Coleman, stepfather of Mary Phagan, the murdered girl.

Fisher is described by those who saw him enter Mr. Rosser's office as being about thirty-five years old, rather unkempt and disheveled, collarless; uncombed, shaggy hair; several days' growth of beard on his face, wild-eyed and very nervous.

ON GUARD ALL NIGHT.

City detectives were on guard at the elevators and staircases of the Grant building throughout Sunday and Sunday night.

They explained that they did not expect to have to arrest Fisher, but that it was up to the authorities to investigate his story, and they would first endeavor to persuade him to go voluntarily to police headquarters.

They also said that it would be a simple matter to get Fisher under arrest, as by his own admissions, he is an accessory after the fact in the Phagan murder, for, according to his confession, he had guilty knowledge of the crime and suppressed it.

Fisher a Good Workman, Says Former Employer I. W. Fisher, who a number of months ago worked at the Gate City Coffin company, is still remembered by officials and employees there.

"He worked here off and on for three or four months," one of the officials remarked.

Asked for an explanation of the phrase "off and on," he answered that Fisher was under arrest once or twice during the period, and naturally was off the company payrolls at that time.

The official declared, however, that Fisher was a good and conscientious workman, when he was on the job."

"While he was working here I never saw the man at all intoxicated except one time," he said, "and that was at Christmas."

For further information about Fisher the reporter was referred to Probation Officer Coogler.

Says He Can Prove Slayer Sent Checks and Money Orders (Special Dispatch to The Journal)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Oct. 20

I. W. Fisher, the man who claims to know the person who murdered Mary Phagan and who declared that Leo M. Frank is innocent, first made himself known to the Birmingham police Friday night.

He stopped a policeman on the street and asked to be directed to the chief of police.

The officer led him immediately to Bodeker, and Fisher began to talk loosely of what he knew about the Frank case.

At first Chief Bodeker was inclined to pay no attention to him, saying that the Frank case was no concern to him.

Afterward, however, he took the man into his private office where all that Fisher had to say was taken down in shorthand by the chief's private stenographer.

FISHER'S STORY.

The substance of his statement to Bodeker was that he knew the man he alleges killed Mary Phagan for a long time before the tragedy.

One the morning that the murder is supposed to have been committed he, the mysterious unknown so far, spoke to Fisher of having an engagement with Mary Phagan in the early afternoon, the story goes.

Fisher thought no more about it until later in the day when, he says, he saw the mana gain.

Fisher says he asked him:

"Well, did you see her?"

"Yes," the man is said to have responded, "and I simply played hell. You'd better get out of town, because you are the only man who knows anything about this."

Fisher still failed to realize that anything tragic had occurred, he said.

However, the next day, Fisher said, he happened to be passing the pencil factory and noticed a large crowd gathered around.

Later the man with whom he had had the conversation quoted above, came to see him, he says, and upon his advice Fisher left town, the man furnishing the money therefor.

Fisher first went to Tennessee, he declared, and from there came to Birmingham, and was connected with the L. & N. railroad.

SAID HE KNEW GIRL.

Fisher declared he knew Mary Phagan well and was extremely shocked when he read of her mysterious death in the newspapers.

According to information furnished Chief Bodeker by a local railroad employee named Spikes, Fisher had spoken of knowing about the Frank case before he made his confession to Bodeker.

According to Spikes he and Fisher were at the same boarding house in Tennessee about three weeks after Frank's arrest.

At this time all the boarders were bitter in their condemnation of Frank, but Fisher warned them not to be too hasty; that he knew enough to know that Frank was not guilty, Spikes said.

Bodeker declares that he is not in a position to teach the proper value to Fisher's statement, as he did not keep up with the evidence.

Fisher says that he has received checks and money orders from the man in question and can prove it on the stand.

The reason for making a statement now is that he didn't want to see an innocent man go to his death.

PAGE 9, COLUMN 3

NEW ATTACK IS MADE UPON JUROR HENSLEE

Several Additional Affidavits for Defense Against Him

Are Exhibited to Solicitor Attorneys for Leo M. Frank on Monday furnished the solicitor general with several new affidavits bearing on the alleged bias of Juror A. H. Henslee.

Last Saturday when the argument of the motion was set by Judge L. S. Roan for Wednesday morning, the attorneys for both sides agreed to exchange affidavits on Monday.

Solicitor H. M. Dorsey was expected to furnish his affidavits to the defense during the day.

Early Monday he declared that at that time he had not had an opportunity of gathering his affidavits together.

Some of them are still in the course of preparation, he said.

Julian A. Lehman, who had already made one affidavit, has strengthened it by a second paper in which he asserts that twice during June before the Frank trial he heard A. H. Henslee declare that he was convinced of the guilt of Frank.

A new witness has entered the case in Leon Harrison.

Mr. Harrison swears in an affidavit that during May he was seated in a lunch room on Peachtree street, when he overheard two men near him talking.

One of the men said, "I don't believe Frank is guilty.

There is not one Jew in a million who would commit that crime."

A man, who Mr. Harrison swears he has since recognized from pictures in the papers as A. H. Henslee, then answered,

"Well, I believe he is guilty and if I get a chance I will try to convict him."

Attorneys for the defense of Frank assert that Mr. Harrison is a volunteer witness, who was directed to their offices by a friend who overheard him telling of the conversation.

The defense also has an affidavit signed by a number of well known citizens, who know Mr. Lehman, and who testify to his good character and credibility.

A similar affidavit signed by a number of witnesses, testifies to the good character of a Mr. Stough, who made affidavit attacking Henslee as prejudiced before he was sworn as a juror.

The affidavits furnished the solicitor Monday, together with the numerous ones previously filed, constitute all of the evidence in affidavit form which the defense now has, but it is understood that they are still working in an effort to secure additional witnesses, whose affidavits may be secured before the motion is called for argument.

Monday, 20th October 1913: J.c. Shirley, Marietta Street Furniture Dealer, Named By I. W. Fisher In Phagan Case, Laughs At Accusations, The Atlanta Journal
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