'The Murder of Little Mary Phagan' is probably the most even-handed book written about the subject. The book details the most infamously contentious and nationally covered early 20th century rape and murder cold case investigation, including the trial which led to the 1913 conviction of Leo Max Frank. Leo Frank was born in Texas, raised in Brooklyn, Cornell educated, traveled extensively and later worked as the superintendent of his uncles pencil factory in Atlanta Georgia. Thirteen year old Mary Phagan, an employee of Leo Frank had begun working at the pencil factory about a year before her murder, the work was her small way of helping support her widowed mother who remarried and five siblings. The week before her murder, a shortage of supplies at the factory had led to a reduction in her work hours in the metal room on the second floor. Her wages for the shortened work week came to $1.20 or ten cents an hour for the twelve hour shift she had worked on the Monday prior to her being murder just after noon on Saturday, April 26th 1913. On April 26, 1913, celebrated locally as Memorial Day (Confederate Memorial Day), Mary came to the factory to claim her pay before going to see the parade with her friend, neighbor and co-worker George Epps. When Mary never showed up after collecting her pay, George would later that day go to Mary Phagans home to find out why she never showed up. When Mary arrived at the factory, Marys pay was issued to her by Frank and according to the testimony in the Trial, Leo Frank was the last person to see Mary Phagan alive. George Epps provided damming testimony at the trial, stating that Mary had said Leo Frank scared her and often made inappropriate advances toward her. In the early hours of Sunday, April 27th 1913 at around 3AM in the morning, the night watch ("night witch") Newt Lee made a phone call to the police. Newt Lee found Mary Phagans mangled body on the dirt floor of the basement with her bloody underwear wrapped around her head, she had been dragged next to the furnace, covered with dirt, filth and caked blood. The autopsy and evidence at the scene of the crime would reveal she had been hit on the head and strangled with a cord, as well as possibly defiled. The police after reviewing the body of Mary Phagan went directly to the home of Leo Frank at around 7am in the morning, to speak with Mr. Frank and ask him to accompany them to the factory. Without telling Leo Frank what it was about to observe him, suspicion fell on Frank because he appeared to be extremely nervous, trembling and agitated, he also gave overly detailed and meticulous answers on very minor points. After arresting and questioning the black janitor Jim Conley who was present at work on Saturday, the day of the murder, the police eventually got Jim Conley to agree to sign a sworn affidavit admitting he was asked by Leo Frank to move the body of Mary Phagan to the basement. Jim Conley also admitted he wrote the two murder notes which were found next to the body at the behest of Leo Frank. The murder notes were very contrived and attempted to point guilt to the "long tall negro" night watchman Newt Lee ("night witch"). The trial would make history, because it would be the first time in the United States of America, where the main witness testimony of a black man (Jim Conley) would lead to the conviction and death sentence of a white man (Leo Frank) by an all White jury. After numerous appeal attempts by the Leo Frank Legal Defense Team to both the Georgia Supreme Court and United States Supreme court were denied, the departing Governor of Georgia, John M. Slaton (who also happened to be a senior legal partner in the same law firm which represented Leo Frank) decided to commute Leo Franks death sentence to life in prison in June of 1915. Almost 2 months later, after Leo Frank received a reduction of his death sentence to life in prison, a well organized group of about 25 men, many of which were from Georgia's highest strata of politics, law and wealth, organized themselves into the 'Knights of Mary Phagan'. This newly formed group of Georgia's elite, sought to fulfill the conviction and deliver righteous retribution in the form of "Southern Style Justice". After much planning, Leo Frank was kidnapped from the minimum security prison he was housed and then lynched on August 17th 1915 from an oak tree near the town where Mary Phagan had lived. Franks dangling body became a public spectacle, photographs were taken and the pictures of Franks suspended, twisting and hovering body became popular post cards and memorabilia in the south. The book 'The Murder of Little Mary Phagan' is written by the namesake of the murder victim, Mary Phagan's great grand niece named Mary Phagan Kean. When Mary Phagan Kean was 16 years old, she discovered her given name was no mere coincidence. When people heard Mary Phagan Keans name they started asking her questions about whether she was related to the famous Mary Phagan who had been murdered long ago. Mary Phagan Kean would learn a startling secret when she asked her family if she was a blood relative connected to the Mary Phagan who was murdered. When her family revealed the truth about her blood relation, Mary Phagan immediately became insatiably curious about the investigation and trial. Instantly become a life long student of the case, Mary Phagan-Kean devoted the rest her life and still to this day pours over and painstakingly researches every remaining written and recorded document surround the case concerning the torture, rape and strangulation of her great grand aunt 13 year old Mary Phagan. Leo Frank was the President of the B'nai B'rith in Georgia. As a result of the conviction and aftermath in this sensational trial, it would be the catalyst to the formation of two American groups: the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith or ADL (www.adl.org) for short, and the revival of the defunct nativist and ethnic nationalist Ku Klux Klan. Jewish Scholars which overwhelmingly wrote the lion share of all the written books, articles, web sites and texts about the subject almost unanimously allege the investigation, trial, and conviction where part of an anti-Semitic conspiracy, a text book case of railroading and framing an Innocent Jewish Man. Pressure from the Jewish community and ADL (Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith) resulted in the 1986 Georgian pardon of Leo Frank. On March 11, 1986, a pardon was issued by the board: Without attempting to address the question of guilt or innocence, and in recognition of the State's failure to protect the person of Leo M. Frank and thereby preserve his opportunity for continued legal appeal of his conviction, and in recognition of the State's failure to bring his killers to justice, and as an effort to heal old wounds, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, in compliance with its Constitutional and statutory authority, hereby grants to Leo M. Frank a Pardon. A number of fictionalized media dramatizations have been made about the trial in the form of plays, musicals, miniseries, docudramas and Broadway plays. The 4.7MB adobe PDF version of the book is available here for download. "Definitive account of one of the most famous crimes of the century."--American Jewish Outlook "Riveting and captivating!" -- Ira Stein "The most evenhanded account of the most sensational trial of the 20th century." -- Matt Cohen Published in English on September 25, 1989