This non-fiction selection tells the story of the 1913 murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan and the subsequent trial and lynching of Leo Frank. Mary Phagan was one of many teenagers, both male and female, who worked for the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Her body was found in the factory by an African American night watchman on the morning following Confederate Memorial Day. It was later determined that Mary came to the factory to collect her pay before joining the Confederate Memorial Day celebrations. The circumstances of her death, at first, though, were a mystery. Suspicion naturally fell first on the night watchman who reported finding the body, but the investigators, Detective Black, soon found another suspect: Leo Frank, the factory superintendent. Black's eye turned to Frank due to the night watchman's statement that he could not reach Frank by phone to report the murder. Leo Frank was a northern Jew, which made him just as easy a target, or perhaps an even better target, than the African American night watchman. The detectives in the case and Solicitor General Hugh Dorsey quickly became convinced that Leo Frank was the murdered and made sure through any means possible, including, but not limited to coercion, that the evidence showed as much. Leo Frank was tried in a court of law in a farce of a trial, but he was also tried in the media, probably the more important of the two venues. The people of Atlanta were quick to accept Leo Frank, the Jew, as the killer and needed little evidence, if any, to support the claim. Even when another viable suspect, Jim Conley, was found, Hugh Dorsey simply made him out to be an accessory. Dorsey's style in the courtroom won the jury and, despite the fact that the case against Frank was based solely on circumstantial evidence, Leo Frank was convicted of murder and sentence to execution by hanging. After several attempts at an appeal, the then governor of Georgia, John Slaton, commuted Frank's sentence to life imprisonment, giving him the opportunity to continue to pursue means of proving his innocence. Frank was attacked in prison, his throat slashed, but he managed to survive, thanks to the quick actions of so fellow prisoners who happened to be doctors, only to be taken and hanged by a lynch mob, a lynch mob organized by and including politicians, police officers, and a judge. None of the members of the mob were ever punished for their crime. In 1982, a statement by Alonzo Mann, who had worked as the office boy at the factory at the time of the murder, appeared to at once prove the innocence of Leo Frank and the guilt of Jim Conley. Mann stated that he saw Jim Conley holding the body of a young girl, possibly already dead, near the trapdoor that lead to the basement of the factory. Conley threatened to kill Mann if he ever spoke of what he saw, and though Mann told his mother and father, they encouraged him to keep quiet, which he did until the age of 83. In 1986, Leo Frank received a posthumous pardon for the murder, though the pardon did not acknowledge his innocence but rather the state's inability to protect him during his time as a prisoner.
The story of Leo Frank is captivating and terrifying. I was shocked that the hatred of Jews in the 1913 South was more powerful than the hatred of African Americans at the time. So often we focus on the racism against African Americans that we forget that there were other groups who suffered as well. Leo Frank's story is a grim reminder of this. The fact that the judicial system in American, though this occurred nearly 100 years ago, could fail a citizen so miserably is truly frightening. Thankfully, I know that improvements have been made to the system to try to prevent such atrocities from happening again (for example, laws against coercion), but the truth is that the system still isn't perfect and not everyone follows the rules. I was shocked, too, at the power the media had over the trial, even in 1913. Today, it is common practice to try high profile criminals in the court of public opinion, just look at the recent trial of Casey Anthony, but I had no idea that the newspapers were so involved, and so influential, in trials in the early 20th century. And the fact that the majority of citizens in Atlanta mindlessly accepted the facts as they were presented by the corrupt solicitor and the greedy newspapers just speaks to the rampant racism of the time. The entire fiasco is a blemish on the history of our nation, our judicial system, and on the South.
An Unspeakable Crime would be an excellent choice for use in a US History or Civics class studying the time period or the history of the judicial system in the United States. History teachers will appreciate the use and inclusion of primary sources in the book. I think the text could also work well as a companion text in a American Literature class studying the witchcraft hysteria presented in
The Crucible and the related hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950's, as the prosecution of Leo Frank was certainly another prime example of a witch hunt. As the state of North Carolina adopts the new Common Core standards over the next couple of years, the emphasis in high schools English will shift from fiction to non-fiction, and a text like
An Unspeakable Crime will be precisely what teachers are looking for to use in the classroom.
References
Alphin, E. M. (2010). An unspeakable crime: The prosecution and persecution of Leo Frank.
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.
No comments:
Post a Comment