The Vigilantes, Episode 5

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Appeal after appeal, Leo Frank was running out of options. With a new lawyer joining his defense team – the same lawyer who earlier represented the man who testified against Leo – the tide began to turn. Witnesses were coming forward, a new explanation for the murder note comes to light, and the story is making national news. With only days remaining before the scheduled execution, would time be on his side?

Join us for part five of this seven-episode series, The Vigilantes.

Special Thank You to the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati and the Kenan Research Center in Atlanta for their generous assistance in finding and sharing letters sent to Leo and Lucille Frank, his family, and to the Governors of Georgia, as well as the state legislature.

Host/ Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon

Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks

Audio Producer: Jenny Snyder

Writers: Amy Watkin, Sharon McMahon

Researched by: Kari Anton, Sharon McMahon, Amy Watkin, Mandy Reid, Melanie Buck Parks

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's where it gets interesting is now available ad free. Head to Sharon McMahon.com slash
0:08.6	ad free to subscribe today.
0:14.7	On February 17th, 1914, the Georgia Supreme Court released a 140-page decision denying Leo Frank a new trial.
0:25.0	They agreed that Leo should have been allowed to be present when the verdict was read, but
0:28.6	they based their ruling on the technicality that his lawyers didn't file their arguments fast enough.
0:34.0	And thus, they missed their chance.
0:37.0	This denial launched Leo's case onto the front pages of the New York Times,
0:41.0	which devoted considerable space to what they called the prosecution's
0:44.6	depraved attacks on Leo's character and the sinister circus-like atmosphere of Leo's first
0:51.6	trial where vendors sold souvenir cards with anti-Semitic
0:54.8	sayings on them and thousands of people picnick on the courthouse lawn the day the
0:59.6	verdict was announced. Within three weeks, the Times had run 25 articles about the case.
1:06.2	The entire country was now paying attention to Leo Frank's trial and his lawyers had just
1:11.8	filed yet another appeal. And back in Georgia, the judge
1:17.9	set Leo's execution date. He had only months left to live. I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.
1:32.1	The New York Times articles detailed the links that the prosecution went to in order to secure a conviction against Leo, including concealing evidence, encouraging or forcing many witnesses into perjuring themselves,
1:45.2	and lying to the public about evidence like the hair found on the factory lathe,
1:50.4	that the prosecuting attorney knew was not Mary Faggin's hair, even before the trial started.
1:57.0	On the same day the New York Times started printing stories about Leo's case,
2:02.0	the Atlanta Georgian printed a statement that Leo himself had written.
2:07.0	The silent man in the tower would be silent no more.
2:12.0	Part of Leo's statement read, I don't ask for pity, for sympathy, or for quarter. I take all on the truth. That alone is
	...

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