Leo Frank Lynch Site - On Our Radar: Leo Frank Lynch Site- NFT

Leo Frank Lynch Site

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Business/Location:	Leo Frank Lynch Site
Address:	Roswell Rd & Freys Gin Rd SE
City:	Marietta
State:	GA
Zip Code:

Posted by:	Mark Rogers
Photo:

Leo Frank (a New York-born Jewish man living in Atlanta) was accused of raping and killing Mary Phagan in 1913. Frank was tried and sentenced to death; his sentence was subsequently commuted to life in prison and in the 1980s, he was proven to be innocent on all counts. During the trial, a group of prominent citizens calling themselves “The Knights of Mary Phagan” gathered atop Stone Mountain, burned a cross, and adopted a more traditional name—the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1915, Frank was kidnapped from prison by many of those same men. Sexually mutilated during a midnight raid, they hung him near the corners of Frey’s Gin and Roswell Road—near what is now the modern-day “Big Chicken.” That same year, a photo of the lynching was made into a popular, nationally circulated postcard. Today, two plaques attached to the side of a plain brick office building facing Roswell Road read, “Leo Frank: Wrongly Accused. Falsely Convicted. Wantonly Murdered. Pardoned 1986” and “Am I my brothers’ keeper?” Ever wonder why Southern politicians are against the UN and The Hague? Crimes ‘gainst humanity, y’all—right to the White House.

Landmarks • Extended Coverage Area

Link It • Print It • Email It • 2 comments

• More Info & Map

Here's what others have said about this Radar:

Average rating: 2 (5=Excellent, 1=Really Awful)

Submitted on:	4/9/2009 9:53:41 AM
By:	D. Holstory
Rated:
Comment:	Seems that there are numerous articles, books and plaques just about everywhere memorializing Leo Frank. He was a convicted murderer that had his death sentence commuted to life in prison by then Georgia Governor Slaton. As it turns out, Governor Slaton was also an active partner and attorney in the very same law firm that defended Leo Franks in the murder of Mary Phagan. A common if not purposeful misconception is that Mr. Leo Frank was later pardoned for murdering that little girl. The truth is that in 1986,the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles finally granted Leo Frank a posthumous pardon, not on the grounds that they thought him innocent, but because his lynching deprived him of his right to further appeal. The so-called pardon was more of an apology by the state for not being able to protect him from the lynching and not an exoneration. The descendants of Mary Phagan's family and their supporters still insist on his guilt. Leo Frank's posthumous pardon came only after intensive and unrelenting pressure and lobbying by the Anti-Defamation League and numerous other influential Jewish parties that apparently had an interest in repairing Leo Frank's memory and legacy. There is precious little written on poor Mary Phagan, the victim of that heinous murder. What little has been written about her implies that she was less than virtuous. They defiled the memory of a little girl in order to protect the memory of a convicted murderer. How very sad.

Submitted on:	4/27/2009 1:07:51 PM
By:	Chad Cox
Rated:
Comment:	While Leo Frank's posthumous pardon does not absolve him of guilt, much evidence does indeed exonerate him completely. The trial that led to his unlawful death(murder) would not pass a modern definition of "beyond reasonable guilt" by any means whatsoever. His murderers were more about personal and political power than they were about justice. Hate was stoked and fed by Tom Watson. The lynch mob (the group that pre-meditated Leo Frank's death) were motivated by hate and power, not justice. It's a shame that Marietta still recognizes these men with street names, etc. And, it's also a shame that people still insist on Leo Frank's guilt in spite of mountains of evidence to contradict that belief. Having grown up there, I spent many years defending my home town against people who would declare us a bunch of racists, anti-Semites’. But if we've reached the year 2009 and still can't figure out the truth about Leo Frank, then maybe that's who are? And to think there are still citizens of Marietta that are proud of what happened? How can I ever defender her again? Even if he was guilty, these men had no right, legal or otherwise, to do what they did. And those who continue to indorse his lynching are wrong! Try this website: http://www.lawsch.uga.edu/academics/profiles/dwilkes_more/his38_wrongly.html#steve It provides factual data from actual evidence. Allot of the evidence was suppressed during the trial. Jim Conley, acting alone, killed Mar Phagan. As Leo predicted, the truth came out in the "future." Now, it's time to change the name of Frey's Gin road!

About NFT | NFT News | Custom Maps | Corporate Sales | Press & Awards

*Terms Of Use | Copyright | Privacy Policy

heresearchysearchysearchy...