In this March 11, 2025, interview on the Stew Peters Network, 70-year-old Mary Phagan-Kean, great-niece of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, discusses the 1913 murder that shocked Atlanta and its enduring legacy. Phagan-Kean recounts the events of April 26, 1913, when her great-aunt visited the National Pencil Company to collect her wages and was found the next day in the basement, raped and strangled. The interview focuses on Leo Frank, the Jewish superintendent convicted of the crime, exploring the trial’s evidence and societal impact. Phagan-Kean details the prosecution’s case, led by Hugh Dorsey, which presented forensic evidence—blood and hair in the factory—and relied on the testimony of Jim Conley, a janitor who claimed Frank killed Phagan and forced him to help dispose of her body. She emphasizes the trial’s rigor, documented in the Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, which withstood multiple appeals, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, affirming Frank’s guilt. Phagan-Kean addresses the defense’s claims, led by Luther Rosser and Reuben Arnold, that antisemitism biased the jury, but counters with the testimony of over 40 witnesses, including factory girls who reported Frank’s predatory behavior. She criticizes the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formed in 1913 to defend Frank, for perpetuating what she calls a false narrative of his innocence, ignoring the evidence that convicted him. The interview explores the trial’s aftermath: Frank’s death sentence, Governor John Slaton’s 1915 commutation amid public outrage, and Frank’s lynching by the Knights of Mary Phagan in Marietta on August 17, 1915. Phagan-Kean discusses the racial dynamics of the Jim Crow South, noting the unusual circumstance where Conley, a Black man, was believed over Frank, a white man, which she attributes to the overwhelming evidence rather than racial prejudice. She references her upcoming book, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan (new edition, 2025), which aims to debunk myths like the “bite mark” evidence and defend her great-aunt’s character against smears. Phagan-Kean also reflects on the 1986 pardon by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, which acknowledged procedural issues but did not exonerate Frank, and notes ongoing efforts as of May 20, 2025, by groups like the Georgia Innocence Project to seek a full exoneration, which she opposes based on the historical record. Peters and Phagan-Kean discuss recent X posts, where some users cite Alonzo Mann’s 1982 affidavit—claiming he saw Conley with Phagan’s body—as evidence of Frank’s innocence, while others argue Mann’s delayed testimony lacks credibility. The interview concludes by emphasizing the case’s enduring lessons about justice, the intersection of race and antisemitism, and the importance of preserving historical truth against revisionist narratives, urging viewers to critically evaluate the evidence and its implications in today’s polarized climate.
