The Ghost of the National Pencil Company
The tragic 1913 murder of Mary Phagan and the lynching of Leo Frank remains one of America's darkest true crime mysteries.
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The tragic 1913 murder of Mary Phagan and the lynching of Leo Frank remains one of America's darkest true crime mysteries.
Full transcript of The Ghost of the National Pencil Company
On April 26, 1913, a 13-year-old girl walked into an Atlanta factory for her paycheck... ...and never walked out. Mary Phagan’s body was found in the dark basement of the National Pencil Company... ...right beside the relentless roar of the city's industrial rail lines. The city erupted in absolute panic. Police quickly zeroed in on the factory superintendent, Leo Frank. His trial became a circus of sensational headlines... ...conflicting testimonies, and deep-seated prejudice. The prosecution built a shaky case on purely circumstantial evidence... ...heavily influenced by the angry mob screaming outside the courthouse. Frank was convicted and sentenced to hang. But when Georgia's governor dared to commute his sentence to life in prison, citing grave doubts... ...a vigilante mob took justice into their own hands. They dragged Frank from his cell and lynched him. Today, the Mary Phagan case remains a chilling reminder: sometimes the loudest demand for justice creates the most irreversible injustice.