I n t r o d u c t i o n
Why do we talk of politics? We do we engage in that stressful, brain-wracking contest of ever-warring tribes when we can just ignore the whole damnable mess? I can not, nor shall I attempt to, speak for anyone but myself, and so I shall tell you why I speak about politics. I speak about politics because, on matters of first principal, chaos, entropy, is the enemy of civilization whilst all that moves to order and truth – all that holds chaos at bay – is its soothing balm.
I care deeply, dear readers, about our shared civilization – that is, euro-American civilization – which, it is no exaggeration to say, is the most powerful, profligate and sought after in the history of the world. Most of all, I care for the continued well-being of myself, my family, my friends and fellow countrymen and all their line and all that that line may yet become. These are my first and primary political concerns which informs and directs all of my political positions.
Therefore, when one discovers a dark and terrible entity which runs counter to all hithertofore mentioned values that I seek to protect and advance it would be, not just irresponsible, but downright unconscionable to ignore the profligate, so-called “hate watch” group known as the ADL. However, I shall show you, incontrovertibly, that the ADL is anything but. Indeed, I shall show you that they are the precise opposite of a group looking out for the common good, for the man defamed, I shall show you that the ADL is, in no uncertain terms, a hateful, slanderous and law-breaking guild of ethno-tribalist radicals who stand for everything they decry. It is the height, the very summit of irony that the organization which brands itself as the premier outfit for fighting against defamation is one of the primary, generative machines thereof.
1913-1915
Despite the fact that the ADL ostensibly operates under the auspices of being keen to, “-stop the defamation of the Jewish people-,” the events which lead to the founding of the group had absolutely nothing to do with defamation and absolutely everything to do with a savage, cold-blooded murder. The murder of a innocent, 13 year old girl.
On Saturday, April 26, 1913, little Mary Phagan, a young girl who toiled for the well known National Pencil Company of Atlanta, Georgia, stopped by her place of work to obtain $1.20 in earnings from the company superintendent, Leo M. Frank. She would never be seen alive again.
Her body was later found in the Pencil Company basement, mutilated. Her undergarments were torn and ugly bruises stood out upon her neck and the whole of her body was covered in the ashes of the nearby incinerator. She had been strangled to death with a wrapping cord, likely after the assailant failed to rape her.
It was Confederate Memorial Day.
The murder set the town awhirl. The Southern locals were rightly outraged and demanded justice. After a thorough investigation many were suspected but none more so than the lecherous superintendent, Leo Max Frank. Frank’s guilty verdict was announced on August 25th, 1913. Frank was eventually convicted of the grisly, barbaric crime and sentenced to death by hanging. On October 1913, after Frank’s conviction, Adolf Kraus, then president of the Jewish-American fraternal order, B’nai B’rith, created the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith which issued forth this statement of purpose in their League charter:
“The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.”
Despite the best efforts of Kraus’ newly formed Anti-Defamation League as well as the masonic inspired, B’nai B’rith, Frank was eventually executed, but not through lawful jurisprudence. Rather, he was let off the hook by a outgoing governor, John M. Slaton, after a great deal of back-door dealing. Frank’s sentence was transmogrified from death by hanging to life behind bars. The denizens of the town were so enraged by this obvious corruption of justice that they decided to take the law into their own hands and subsequently dragged Frank from the courthouse and summarily executed him. He was lynched from an oak tree in Mary Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia on August 16, 1915. The Phagan Family’s house was the last thing Leo Frank ever saw.
Contrary to the widely held misconception that Frank was the first Jew ever to be lynched, he was far from it. In 1868, a Jewish store owner in Franklin Tennessee named S. A. Brierfield and a black worker, Lawrence Bowman were lynched by initiates of the KKK for supporting The Reconstruction; in 1915, the Jewish writer and convicted murderer, Albert Bettelheim was lynched only two days before Frank himself was slain. What markedly differentiated the Frank Case from the previously mentioned incidents was the enormous media firestorm that ensured and the way in which the case transformed the sociopolitical landscape of the region.
In the many years since the Phagan murder, Leo Frank has become a venerated figured among many Jewish-Americans; so much so that it might be said without hyperbole, that he is viewed by the ADL as their patron saint; as a man whose death serves as a reminder of the depths of depravity to which man can sink when in the grip of xenophobic hatred. This holy martyr reverence shines through in many of the articles written by members of the League that are still archived on the site to this day. To provide some context to the ADL’s feeling about the Frank Case consider this excerpt from their article, Remembering Leo Frank,
“During this same time, an event in Georgia made the need for the organization painfully clear. Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman who moved to Atlanta to manage his family’s pencil factory, was convicted of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old female employee, following a trial that was defined by anti-Semitism.”
Note the last line, “-following a trial that was defined by anti-Semitism.” This idea is one oft touted by modern historians (especially liberal ones). Given the prevalence of the notion that Frank was innocent of the crime but was hanged due to rampant anti-Semitism, Southern idiocy and the tendency to always defer to perceived authorities, (a tendency which runs counter to many of the claims of American egalitarians – but more on that later) most of the American public tends to believe the blood-libel narrative as well. But is it actually true? Was Frank actually innocent of killing Mary Phagan?
Short answer, no. He was most decidedly guilty. With that said, let us turn our attention to the facts indicating just that.
Pertinent Facts Concerning Leo Frank’s Guilt:
Fact 1 – P.A. Flak, a fingerprint expert who was tasked with investigating the Phagan murder crime scene, lifted fingerprints belonging to two men, Newt Lee, the afro-American night-watchman of the National Pencil Company who had first discovered Phagan’s body and Leo Frank.
Fact 2 – Lee testified in court that Frank had called him at night, previous to the discovery of the corpse, to ask if everything was alright. This, Newt Lee stated, was exceedingly strange, as Frank had never before directly telephoned him.
Fact 3 – Frank explicitly stated whilst testifying at his trial that he did not know Mary Phagan by name yet numerous female employees of the Pencil Factory testified to the fact that they had seen Frank talking with Phagan on various occasions, sometimes putting his arm upon her shoulder. One young woman, a 16 year old named Dewey Hall stated in court that Frank would talk to Mary Phagan “-two or three times a day.” These same women also testified to the fact that Frank was possessed of a decidedly lascivious nature and would regularly make sexual advances upon female factory workers, sometimes slipping away with them into a private room for suspiciously long stretches of time.
Fact 4 – Leo Frank told police that John Gantt, a factory worker who was a friend of Mary Phagan’s, had been “intimate” with the dead girl. This obviously contradicts Frank’s earlier statement that he did not know Phagan at all. For, after all, how could Frank have known Gantt had any ties to Phagan if Frank did not even know Phagan by name? Clearly, Frank was lying.
Fact 5 – Frank and Conley were the two primary suspects and it is believed by many today who think Frank innocent that Jim Conley was the real killer. However, Conley worked on the ground floor for his entire shift, this means that if he had been the killer he would have had to attack Mary Phagan almost as soon as she entered the building where there was effectively zero privacy given the constant stream of people. Conley was not perceived as being particularly intelligent, this coupled with the fact that there was nowhere to kill and effectively hide someone at his work station undetected put him entirely out of the realms of possibility as a suspect. Furthermore, Leo Frank, however, did have a secured area upon the second floor where one could do all manner of things without sight or sound from anyone; Frank also admitted to the fact that he had been alone with Mary Phagan upon the second floor where he (quite a tall man) could have easily killed her without oversight.
Fact 6 – Newt Lee, the night watchman who was an early primary suspect in the case and who had no motives against anyone involved, arrived at the Pencil Factory before Phagan’s body was discovered and found Frank there and told him he would sleep in the basement (where Lee ultimately discovered Phagan’s body). Frank refused to let him and further forced him to leave, saying that Lee had to, “Have a good time.” This was not only extremely odd, it was also against the National Pencil Company’s corporate policy which stated that the night watchman, once he entered the building, was not to leave until he had passed along his keys to the day watchman. What this suggests is that Frank knew Phagan’s body was in the basement and that, if Lee retreated to the factories bowels, the crime would be discovered.
Fact 7 – Lee left as Frank commanded but returned later at six to discover Frank so nervous and agitated that he could not do even the most basic of functions, such as operating his time clock. However, it should be noted that two mechanics who worked at the factory disputed Lee’s story, with both claiming that Frank had acted perfectly normally.
Fact 8 – On April 30th 1913, a friend of Mary Phagan’s, a fifteen year old named George Epps, testified that Phagan was afraid of Leo Frank because he had flirted with the little girl and made several sexual advances towards her.
Fact 9 – May 9th, 1913, a young girl who worked at the factory named Monteen Stover stated that she had arrived to work at the National Pencil Factory at 12:05 PM the day of the murder (near the same time Phagan arrived) and that when she arrived Frank was not in his office. This directly contradicts Franks testimony in which he stated he had stayed in his office the entire time the murder was supposed to be taking place at the factory.
Fact 10 – June 3rd, 1913, Minola McKnight, Leo Frank’s afro-American cook states in a statement to local police authorities that Frank was exceedingly nervous, agitated and also remarked that he drank heavily after he had returned home the night Mary Phagan was murdered.
Fact 11 – The other prime suspect in the case, Jim Conley, though initially one of the prime suspects due to his own admissions of aiding in the murder and history of violence (he once threatened his wife and a employee at gunpoint) was a known serial liar and his story continuously changed throughout the course of the case and often made no sense at all.
Fact 12 – July 30th, 1913, Frank had testified that he had not seen Mary Phagan’s body at the undertaker’s yet a man named W.W. (Boots) Rogers, testified that Frank had indeed been to the undertaker’s and had there seen the body of the young, murdered girl.
Fact 13 – Jim Conley testified that he had often acted as a look-out man for Frank during his liasons with young factory works. Conley also testified to the fact that he had helped Frank move Phagan’s body after the murder (letters found near Phagan’s body were noted to be in Conley’s handwriting) and that Frank had confessed to the killing and was so shaken with what he had done that he had gripped Conley for support. Though many points in Conley’s story changed marked from its first telling, these points always remained consistent. On August 7th a railroad worker named C.B. Dalton testified to the fact that he had often met with women in the National Pencil Factory’s basement and that, during these libidinous ventures, Conley had often acted as the lookout – a fact which only reinforces the veracity of Conley’s testimony. Furthermore, Dalton went on to state that, on numerous occasions during his ventures to the factory, he had seen Frank privately meeting with women. Also, two hundred dollars were known to have been on the premises of the Pencil company, this was the same amount of money which Jim Conley said Frank had showed to him during their meeting after the murder.
Lastly, let us examine this notion set forth by the Frank defense team and carried on by the ADL that the whole arc of the case was carried, in whole or in part, by racial bigotry and lay it swiftly to rest. Contrary to popular belief, the South, at the time, was not anti-Semitic but rather philo-Semitic. The racial animus during the trial was not, principally, directed towards Frank, but rather, towards Jim Conley, a negro janitor who worked for the National Pencil Company. Conley was, admittedly, a drunkard and a liar, a man of low-repute, but the vitriol he received passes all boundaries of decency. For instance, during the course of the trial, Conley was targeted by numerous instances of abuse from Frank’s defense attorneys, Luther Rosser, Rueben R. Arnold and Frank Hooper.
Arnold insisted that Conley was a, “-a drunken, crazed negro, hard up for money.”
Hooper contended that the black janitor was a, “Dr. Jekyll,” who, “when the shades of night comes, throws aside his mask of respectability and is transformed into a Mr. Hyde.”
Rosser scathingly remarked that Conley was, “-a filthy, lying nigger,” who probably snorted, “-tons of cocaine.”
However, the presiding Prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey (whose sister was married to the son of Luther Rosser), took umbrage to the remarks of the defense and also wholly denied that Frank was being tried due to some untoward feelings concerning the Jewish People upon whom he remarked, “This great people [the Jews] rise to heights sublime, but sink to the depths of degradation, too, and they are amenable to the same laws as you or I and the black race.”
The outspoken agrarian populist and publisher, Tom Watson, wrote extensively and critically of the case, paying special attention to the charges of anti-Semitism; His publication, Watson’s Magazine, echoed sentiments similar to Dorsey’s.
In his magazine, Watson wrote,
“Far and wide, the accusation has been strewn, that we [Southerners] are prejudiced against this young libertine [Frank], because he is a Jew. If there is such a racial dislike of the Hebrews among us, why is it that, in the formation of the Southern Confederacy, we placed a Jew in the Cabinet, and kept him there to the last? Why is it, we are constantly electing Jews to the State legislatures, and to Congress?”
[Watson’s magazine, Jan. 1915]
Given all these facts we can very firmly establish several concrete truths. Frank lied, often, during the trial. Frank had motive to do the deed, namely, perverse lecherousness, which, once rebuked, reacted with fury that eventually resulted in the murder. Only Frank could possibly have killed Mary Phagan since, as previously stated, he was the only one in the factory at the time who had a enclosed and segregated space to do such a deed unobserved and he later admitted that he had “unconsciously” gone into the very room where Phagan had been murdered. Additionally, anti-Semitism clearly was not the driving force for the case, especially not in the philo-Semitic, Christian South (devout Christians, after all, typically tend to view Jews as fellow people of the good book and as God’s chosen). For instance, when the aforementioned prosecutor, Hugh Dorsey, made his remarks about Frank shaming his lofty Jewish ancestors, he was greeted with cheers by the locals once he emerged from the court house for the day which is clearly not the sort of thing you would expect out of a bunch of irrationally heated Jew haters. What “anti-Semite” would cheer for someone who was defending the honor of the Jewish people?
Frank was, in no uncertain terms, a sexual deviant, guilty of the hideous crime; for the great heft of the vast bulk of all the evidence was and is against him. This, the researchers at the ADL know very well, just as they likely knew it at the time, yet despite the obvious, they have maintained Frank’s innocence for over 100 years, all to protect their reputation – who, after all, would take the Anti-Defamation League at their word if they knew the truth that the ADL was founded on a grievous lie?
Sources/further reading:
http://theamericanmercury.org/2013/04/100-reasons-proving-leo-frank-is-guilty/
http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/history/article/progressive-era-world-war-ii-1901-1945/the-leo-frank-case
https://leofrank.info/about/
https://www.adl.org/
The Ugly Truth About The ADL by E.I.R. (Lyndon LaRouche’s Executive Intelligence Review)
Leo Frank Georgia Supreme Court Case Records (1913, 1914)
Atlanta newspaper accounts of the trial and aftermath (1913, 1914, 1915)
Watson’s Magazine (1913-15)
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