1913-07-14-minceys-own-story-the-atlanta-georgian
Monday, July 14, 1913
*Editor's Note: This article also appeared in the Night Edition under the headline "Mincey Tells of Confession."
Tells How Conley Confessed Killing Girl
‘I AM SEEKING ONLY TO DO MY DUTY FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE'
The Georgian Secures Remarkable Statement From Chief Witness for Defense in the Trial of Frank. Declares Belief in Conley's Guilt.
On Thursday, July 10, The Georgian published the exclusive story of an affidavit in the possession of the lawyers for Leo M. Frank, accused of the murder of Mary Phagan, made by W.H. Mincey, an insurance agent, the substance of which was to the effect that Jim Conley, the negro sweeper at the pencil factory, had confessed that he killed the little girl.
In his affidavit, Mincey declared that he met the negro Conley at Electric avenue and Carter street on the afternoon of the murder; that Conley was intoxicated and when approached by Mincey for insurance became angry and exclaimed, threateningly: "I have killed a girl to-day; I don't want to kill nobody else."
The Georgian has now secured from Mincey a complete statement of his connection with the Phagan case. It is as follows:
By W.H. MINCEY
If Jim Conley told the truth at a time he was most likely to do so, that is, when he was drunk, then I know he killed Mary Phagan, and I have known this for weeks.
I am not an insurance agent, as some of the papers have me, but I am a teacher by profession. I am a graduate of a branch of the State University, A.B. degree, hold a Georgia State Teacher's license, and have been teaching in Georgia every year for the past twenty-five years. I am now teaching. But during my vacation I worked for an insurance company in Atlanta for ten weeks.
By this company I was assigned a territory west of the Terminal Station. Saturday, April 26, I worked in the office till noon. In the afternoon I went out on Peachtree street and saw the parade. After the parade I went over beyond Davis street on "back calls" and to make an effort to close some "prospects" I had.
I passed down Rhodes street, and when I turned back, I had calls to make back on Electric avenue and Mitchell street. From Rhodes street there is a trailway up a bluff to the junction of Carter street and Electric avenue. I went up this.
Passing the house that sits just on the brow of this bluff I noticed a negro man sitting with his head leaning down on his chest as if asleep. I passed on some twenty feet when this negro raised his head and said: "Who is that?" The sharp, quick, excited manner in which he said this attracted my attention. A negro woman passing by Conley said, "It is a policy man," meaning an insurance man.
Said He Was Jim Conley
I stopped and got into a conversation with the negro about insurance. He told me his name was Jim Conley. He told me he lived at 172 Rhodes street. I saw at once there was something wrong with him. He was nervous and excited, and tried to put me off and get rid of me by telling me to come to 172 Rhodes street next week and he would take insurance. But as the negro had excited my curiosity by his incoherent, scattering way of talking and his nervous and excited manner, I remained standing there firing questions at him.
He told me he was in trouble. I asked him if they had had him in jail or the stockade. He said no, but he was expecting to be in jail, and that right away. I asked him what for.
He said: "Murder, I killed a girl to-day."
I said: "Oh, I see! You are Jack the Ripper."
The thought that occurred to me was that he meant he had[…]
Continued on Page 4, Column 1.
SCHOOL TEACHER TELLS REMARKABLE STORY TO THE GEORGIAN
Says He Only Desires to Prevent a Crime as Bad as Phagan Slaying
Negro Who Declared He Had Killed a Girl First Said His Name Was Jim Conley, Mincey Declares.
Continued From Page 1.
[…]killed some negro woman, and the only thing that seemded peculiar to me was that he said "girl" instead of "woman."
I said: "Why did you kill her?"
He began to get angry and I saw he was drunk.
He said: "Now, that is for me to know and you to find out."
Negro Seemed Suspiciously Nervous
I did not attach much to what he was saying, thinking it was the babbling of a drunken negro; but his restless, quick glancing around and his keeping his eyes on me, and the wild, unnatural glare in his eyes caused me to want to press him further to find out really what he had been doing.
I said: "Let me write your insurance this afternoon," and started down to where he was.
He said: "Don't you come down here," speaking this in an angry, threatening manner. This caused me to press him the more.
I said: "No, I will take your application now," and continued.
He said: "I tell you not to come down here."
When he saw I was coming on anyway, he jumped up, and as he went round the corner of the house he said: "I have killed one to-day and I don't want to kill another."
I said: "Well, one a day is enough; that is 365 a year," turned and walked off.
Now, if Jim Conley did n
Transaction
Created
3 hours ago
Content Type
Language
video/mp4
English