They went back into Frank’s private office and just at that time Frank said, “My God, here is Emma Clark and Corinthia Hall”, and Frank then put Conley into the wardrobe. Frank returned to the first floor by the ladder, while Conley went by the elevator and Frank on the first floor got into the elevator and went to the second floor on which the office is located.
Frank went to his office and got a key and unlocked the switch board in order to operate the Elevator, and he and Conley took the body in the elevator down to the basement, where Conley rolled the body off the cloth. “Of course, you know I ain’t built like other men”.Ĭonley described Frank was having been in position which Conley thought indicated perversion, but the facts set out by Conley do not demand such conclusion.Ĭonley says he found Mary Phagan lying in the Metal Room some 200 feet from the office, with a cloth tied about her neck and murder the head as though to catch blood, although there was no blood at the place.įrank told Conley to get a piece of cloth and put the body in it and Conley got a piece of striped bed tick and tied up the body in it and brought it to a place a little way from the dressing room and dropped it and then called on Frank for assistance in carrying it. Frank was shivering and trembling and told Conley “I wanted to be with the little girl and she refused me and I struck her and I guess I struck her too hard and she fell and hit her head against something, and I do not know how bad she got hurt. In a few minutes Frank stamped and then Conley locked the door and then Frank whistled, at which time Conley unlocked the door and went up the steps.
He said that Mary Phagan went up the stairs and he heard in a few minutes foot steps going back to the Metal Room, which is 150 to 200 feet away from the office. The affidavits were introduced by the defendant under notice to produce.īy these affidavits there was admitted the substance of the evidence that he delivered on the stand which in brief was as follows:Ĭonley claimed that he was asked by Frank to come to the Factory on Saturday and watch for him, as he had previously done, which he explained meant that Frank expected to meet some woman and when Frank stamped his foot Conley was to lock the door leading into the Factory and when he whistled, he was to open it.Ĭonley occupied a dark place to the side of the Elevator behind some boxes, where he could be invisible.Ĭonley mentioned several people, including male and female employees, who went up the steps to the second floor where Franks’ office was located. He made one statement and three affidavits which are more fully referred to in stating the defendant’s case. The Detectives learned about the middle of May that Conley could write, although at first he denied it. “Mam that negro fire down here did this I went to make water and he push me down a hole a long tall negro black did it I write while play with me.: On the brown paper, which was the carbon sheet of an order blank which hereafter becomes important, headed “Atlanta, Ga., _190”, was written in a negro’s hand writing the following: “He said he would love me, lay down play like the night witch, did it, but that long, tall black negro did boy hisself.” That written on white paper in a negro’s hand writing showed the following: Near the body in the basement had been found two notes, one written on brown paper and the other on a leaf of a scratch pad. On May 1st he was arrested by the Detectives. He had worked in the basement about two months and had run the elevator about a year and a half. Conley had worked at the Factory for about two years and was thoroughly acquainted with it. The most startling and spectacular evidence in the case was that given by a negro, Jim Conley, a man 27 years of age, and one who frequently had been in the chain gang. The excerpt below is taken from Governor Slaton's commutation order: JIM CONLEY Villainy and Narrative in the Leo Frank Case 1. LINK: Jeffrey Melnick, "The Night Witch Did It": Notes on Jim Conley's Murder Notes in the Leo Frank Case James Conley, author of the murder notes
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