Georgia Governor John Slaton and Innocent Jewish Factory Manager Leo Frank: A Profile In Courage

Georgia Governor John Slaton

In 1915, Slaton commuted the sentence for Leo Frank from death to life imprisonment after Frank had been convicted of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Mary Phagan. Gov. Slaton was troubled by choruses of Kill the Jew coming in from the crowds outside the courtroom's open windows throughout the trial.

"I can endure misconstruction, abuse and condemnation," Slaton said, "but I cannot stand the constant companionship of an accusing conscience which would remind me that I, as governor of Georgia, failed to do what I thought to be right.... It means that I must live in obscurity the rest of my days, but I would rather be plowing in a field than to feel that I had that blood on my hands."

Schematic of the National Pencil Company Building, showing, according to Jim Conley's testimony, Conley and Leo Frank carrying Mary Phagan's body to the basement and dumping it there.

When I was a kid, I went to a nursery school on Frey's Gin Road in Marietta, Georgia. I remember that there was a big tree in our playground. One morning when we drove by my former school I noticed that there was a bouquet of flowers at the foot of this tree.  I was only 10 at that time, but I remember asking my Mom about the flowers. And she told me the story of Leo Frank and that he had been lynched on that tree. About how Leo had been the manager of the National Pencil Company and that a little girl from Marietta named Mary Phagan had been murdered at the factory. During the investigation of the murder the police incorrectly came to the conclusion that Leo Frank had done it.
My Mom explained that he was killed by people who hated Jews. I had a courtesy Aunt Rose and Uncle Norman Brilliant, who were Jewish, so the story of injustice was deeply personal to me.
My grandfather ran a grocery store on Belle Isle Drive in Sandy Springs, Georgia. I remember him talking about how Georgia Governor Slaton would come in and shop with his wife. Governor Slaton was an open, gregarious man who my reticent Pop-pop truly liked and respected.  My Grandfather said that if Governor Slaton said he had doubts about Leo's guilt, then something must have been wrong with the case against Leo. Governor Slaton reviewed Leo Frank's Case and commuted the sentence from death to life because of irregularities in the prosecution and evidence.

Governor Slaton hung in effigy as "King of the Jews"

A crowd of 5,000 marched on the Governor's Mansion calling for the lynching of the Governor.  President John F. Kennedy told the story of his courage in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Profiles in Courage".
A crowd of vigilantes were so enraged by the commutation that they went down to Milledgeville and grabbed Leo Frank out of the prison cell and then took him back to Marietta and lynched him.

  

  

Mary's family and in crowd in front of the mortuary

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Confederate Veterans erect a monument over Mary's grave 1914

Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey LIED AND SMEARED innocent 14-year-old office boy Philip Chambers because he was a character witness for his boss Leo Frank. Philip and fellow office boy Alonzo Mann testified Leo was a good man who treated them fair and square. Their testimony mattered because they were southerners, born and bread. The fact that the boys worked directly outside of Leo's office at the direction of Leo and his secretary every day, they knew him best.  Dorsey implied that Philip was having a homosexual affair with him, while offering absolutely NO PROOF of his accusation. If I had been Philip's dad I would have been beaten the **** out of District Attorney Dorsey and would have happily gone to jail for it. 

Testimony of Philip Chambers

Parent Category: Leo Frank Trial (1913)

Philip Chambers, age 15, was an employee of the National Pencil Company who regularly worked Saturdays.

Examination by Reuben Arnold

Arnold: [Have you see Frank entertain female employees in his office?]

Chambers: "Mr. Frank never did have any women in there."

Arnold: [Did you ever see Frank drinking at the factory?]

Chambers: "I never saw any drinking there."

Arnold: [Did you ever see Dalton visit Frank at the factory?]

Chambers: "I have never seen Dalton come in there."

Arnold: [Did you ever see Conley or anyone else watching the door for Frank?]

Chambers: "I have never seen anybody watching the door on any Saturday that I was there."

Arnold: [Did you ever see Frank doing anything sexually inappropriate with any female workers?]

Chambers: "I have never seen Mr. Frank familiar with any of the women in the factory. "

Arnold: [Did you ever see Frank doing anything inappropriate with Mary Phagan?]

Chambers: "I have never seen him talk to Mary Phagan at all."

 

Cross-examination by Hugh Dorsey:

Dorsey: "You and Mr. Frank were pretty friendly, weren't you?"

Chambers: "Just like a boss should be."

Dorsey: "Did you ever complain to J.M. Gantt that Frank had made improper advances to you?"

Chambers: "No, sir."

Dorsey: "You didn't tell Gantt that Frank had threatened to discharge you if you did not comply with his wishes?"

Chambers: “No.”

[Arnold objected that this line of questioning had no support and was designed solely to damage the reputation of the defendant. Arnold complained: "It's the most unfair thing I've ever heard of in a court proceeding. It's the vilest slander that can be cast upon a man. If Courts were run this way it could be brought against any member of the community-you, me or the jury. No man can get a fair showing against such vile insinuations. If this comes up again, I will be tempted to move for a new trial." Judge Roan ordered the evidence concerning Frank's sexual interest in Chambers struck from the record.]

 

The cross-examination of 16-year-old Philip Chambers(left), Leo Frank's office boy and messenger, was used by DA Hugh Dorsey to smear Leo Frank during his testimony at the trial.

Years later, Alonzo Mann(right), another office boy at the National Pencil Factory, said that he had seen the building janitor, Jim Conley, carrying Mary's body, alone (which contradicted Conley's trial testimony, which said that Leo Frank and Jim Conley had carried her body together).  Jim Conley threatened to murder the 14-year-old if he said anything about what he had seen. Alonzo was terrified, Jim was known as a man not to be messed with and a dangerous drunk, which was his normal state.

Jim Conley's testimony was the only direct evidence against Leo Frank. As noted by famed historian C. Vann Woodward, the trial evidence was “overwhelmingly more incriminating [of Conley] than any produced against Frank.”  Jim Conley was much, much smarter than the racist Bible Belt "christians"/southerners he told his false story to. Conley knew that Southern Evangelicals hated Jews and Catholics more than they hated black people. He gave them INNOCENT Leo Frank to guarantee he would not be lynched for raping, robbing, strangling and murdering 14-year-old Mary Phagan.  Jim Conley was right, he got one year in prison. 

Leo Frank

Mary Phagan

It was Tom Watson's personal vendetta through his newspaper which called for Leo's conviction and execution. Later he championed Leo Frank's lynching and hailed the lynch mob as heroes.

Gathering of lynch mob supporters in the Marietta Square

Leo and his wife, Lucille Selig Frank

The murder occurred on Confederate Memorial Day when the factory was practically deserted. Mary had come for her weekly pay of $1.20 and see the parade which included the widow of General "Stonewall" Jackson.  The only evidence against Leo Frank was the testimony of Jim Conley.

District Attorney Hugh Dorsey smearing a defense witness, Philip Chambers, who testified to Leo Frank's good character.   Dorsey inflamed the anti-Semitism which was running rampant because of men such as future Georgia Senator Tom Watson(Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel by C. Van Woodward). The reason that Philip and Alonzo's character testimony was so important was that they were white southerners (Leo's family home was from Brooklyn, New York and he went to college at Cornell) and saw him every day. Both boys genuinely liked him. Dorsey was obviously implying that the two southern white 14 and 16-year-old boys were engaged in a homosexual relationships with their boss. Dorsey never produced any evidence of this, but for the perfect smear it succeeded in its purpose, helping him win his case. All it took was the implication, lie that it was, to destroy any value that the boys' TRUTHFUL testimony gave. Judge Roan struck Dorsey's smear from the record, but could not remove it from the minds of the all-white Evangelical Southern male jurors.

This is testimony which guaranteed Leo Frank's conviction. Southerner Evangelicals hated Jews, but implying that 14-year-old Philip Chambers and Leo Frank were having homosexual sex synched the prosecution case, even though it was a LIE!

Cross-examination by Hugh Dorsey:

Dorsey:  "You and Mr. Frank were pretty friendly, weren't you?"

Chambers:  "Just like a boss should be." 

Dorsey:  "Did you ever complain to J.M. Gantt that Frank had made improper advances to you?"

Chambers:  "No, sir."

Dorsey:  "You didn't tell Gantt that Frank had threatened to discharge you if you did not comply with his wishes?"

Chambers:  “No.”         

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/frank/testimonyphilips.html

After Governor Slaton commuted Leo's sentence to life, he was both lionized and vilified:

For twelve days Slaton wrestled with the materials. On the last day he worked well into the night, and at 2:00 A.M., on June 21, 1915, he went up to his bedroom to inform his wife. “Have you reached a decision?” she asked.
“Yes.” he replied, ”…it may mean my death or worse, but I have ordered the sentence commuted.”
Mrs. Slaton then kissed her husband and confessed, “I would rather be the widow of a brave and honorable man than the wife of a coward.”

And the Evangelical "christian" murderers brought their kids to witness the torture murder. Supposedly, Evangelical Southern Baptist, Assemblies of God preachers, the sheriff, police officers and local judges were there too. We will never know because they protected each other. The torture/murderers tipped off the Atlanta Constitution to send a reporter and photographer to their lynching of INNOCENT JEWISH FACTORY MANAGER LEO FRANK. The Atlanta Constitution Photographer/Reporter refused to take a photo of naked Leo Frank until someone got a towel and covered up his body. Folklore that I heard repeatedly when I was a kid, these Evangelical fathers let their 8/9/10/11/12/13/14-year-old sons kick Leo Frank in the nuts before they murdered him. One boy told me that his 13-year-old grandfather bragged about how much fun it was to torture Leo and laugh as Leo screamed in pain.

Jim Conley raped, strangled, robbed and murdered 14-year-old Mary Phagan at the National Pencil Company when she came to pick up her pay on the Confederate Memorial Day Holiday. Only 4 people were in the National Pencil Company building on that Saturday, Leo Frank the Jewish Factory Manager, the Black Janitor Jim Conley, Mary Phagan and Office Boy Alonzo Mann the 14-year-old Office Boy. Mann would admit years later he had seen Conley, ALONE, carrying Mary Phagan's body. This directly contradicted Conley's court testimony, in which was very clear that he had been drafted by Leo Frank to carry her body which was far too heavy for the slight man to carry alone. Leo Frank, together with Jim Conley, according to Jim Conley, had carried Mary Phagan's body to the basement.

The vicious bully Conley said he would murder the boy if he spoke about what he saw. Mann and fellow office boy Philip Chambers were terrified of Conley, who was a vicious drunk, his normal state, always threatening and bullying the boys, threatening to lie about the boys saying they were thieves, promising to frame them, and worse. catching them peeking at the girls, some as young as 12-years-old, in the changing room and bathrooms.

                                                                                                                                        

Conley was much smarter than the white Evangelical "christians" who he lied to. Jim Conley and Evangelicals murdered Leo Frank.  Conley knew Evangelical "christians" hated Jews and Catholics more than they hated Black people, It was a lie they would embrace with joy, so he framed Leo Frank for the rape and murder of Mary Phagan. He testified that Frank made him help carry Mary Phagan's body after her raped/murdered her so they could dump her body in the basement of the factory. Leo Frank was murdered and Jim Conley got 1 year in prison. In the 1980's, Leo Frank Office Boy Alonzo Mann came forward and said he was terrified of Jim Conley and then the anti-Semitic hysteria following Leo Frank's arrest, trial and murder. Alonzo's parents were terrified that he would be lynched too if he came forward and told the truth. I suspect they could have been right.

When I was 11-years-old our principal at Sedalia Park Elementary School came over the PA and announced that Martin Luther King had been assassinated the day before. We had 5 black kids out of a student body of 500. I thought that was the right thing to do. To my horror, about 5 kids in my class applauded the announcement. 

 http://www.americanheritage.com/content/fate-leo-frank?page=5



The Rio Olympics A Legacy of Terror

Fernando Ramos da Silva with his family in the slums of Rio

One of the saddest movies that I've ever seen was Pixote (1981). It told the story of a poor Brazilian kid who gets into trouble and is sent to Juvenile Hall where his life becomes a living hell.
Burt Lancaster was being interviewed on the Mike Douglas Show on TV and recommended it so strongly that I had to go see it. It was one of the most powerful, emotional, depressing experiences of my life, but it also leaves you heartbroken, because you know it is true. There are a lot of Pixotes in the world.  It is a movie you probably only want to see once.

Pixote became a huge international success, even being nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes, although it only achieved moderate success in its native country of Brazil. It is estimated that the film was screened for 2.5 million viewers in 20 countries.
Roger Ebert described the film in the Chicago Sun-Times as "a rough, unblinking look at lives no human being should be required to lead. And the eyes of Fernando Ramos da Silva, Director Babenco's doomed young actor, regard us from the screen not in hurt, not in accusation, not in regret -- but simply in acceptance of a desolate daily reality."
The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote, "Pixote's performances are almost too good to be true, but Mr. Da Silva and Miss Pera are splendid. Pixote is not for the weak of stomach. A lot of the details are tough to take, but it is neither exploitative nor pretentious. Mr. Babenco shows us rock-bottom, and because he is an artist, he makes us believe it as well all of the possibilities that have been lost." Wikipedia

The star was a boy named Fernando Ramos da Silva. His Dad had just died, leaving his wife and 10 children in poverty in the slums of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They lived on his Dad's $10 a month pension and whatever money his mom could earn.
Fernando heard that they were looking for a 10-year-old boy from the slums of Sao Paulo to star in a movie, Pixote. Fernando won the audition, beating out 2,000 other boys. He was paid $75 for a movie which made $50,000,000.00  

When he tried to get work in TV and Movies after Pixote, Fernando was turned down every time. As they soon discovered, the 12-year-old didn't know how to read or write. In Brazil the rich and powerful waste no money on things like education for the poor.

Fernando got married at 18 and had a little girl name Jacqueline. Out of work, things got so desperate that he stole a black and white TV to get enough money to feed his family. A police right-wing death squad caught him and shot him 7 times in the back, killing him. The TV was worth about $75 but it cost a kid his life.

Unable to find work, unable to feed his wife and child, Fernando became a petty thief. A police death squad caught him stealing a b/w TV and executed the boy ending the sad life and career of PIXOTE. 

The right-wing has overthrown the elected government of Brazil in a coup. They and their death squads will be in full force at the 2016 Olympics. Though they have to get through stealing all the money first.

Pixote, depressing, emotional and not for the weak of heart, recommended by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel of PBS At the Movies:

Pixote with English subtitles is available on Youtube, but be warned it is very strong and sad, especially considering Fernando's death and very strong R Rating. 

                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZRv91ucFcU


Fernando Ramos da Silva was a Brazilian actor who became renowned for his role as the eleven-year-old title character in Hector Babenco's 1981 film Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco, a documentary-style account of the street children of Brazil. Wikipedia



Born: November 29, 1967, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Died: August 25, 1987, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Spouse: Cida Venâncio Silva (m. ?–1987)
Movies: Pixote, They Don't Wear Black Tie
Parents: Josefa Carvalho da Silva, João Alves da Silva


Near the end of his short acting career, Ramos da Silva pleaded with the author whose book inspired "Pixote" to write a sequel.
"If you write 'The Return of Pixote' I will be even better," he told Jose Louzeiro. Louzeiro, recalling Ramos da Silva's words in a local magazine article this week, said the boy remained obsessed with being Pixote.
"I tried to pull him out of this absurd dream, to wake him up for other projects, but he didn't seem to believe," Louzeiro wrote. LA TIMES

One of his few other jobs, Fernando Ramos da Silva appeared on Brazilian television screens promoting Christmas card sales for the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF. "If everyone helps, one day there will be Pixotes only in the movies," he said. LA TIMES

Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don't remember me at all. Laura Ingalls Wilder