Who are Mary Phagan and her alleged murderers? Mary Phagan was a thirteen-year former employee of the National Pencil Company. His parents were poor farmers who moved to Marietta, Georgia. Everyone said Mary Phagan was a pretty girl, which meant she would become a beautiful woman. HG Mary went to the National Pencil Company to collect her weekly check totaling $1.20 for twelve hours of grueling work. Next, she planned to attend the Confederate Memorial Day parade. Mary was one of the workers who inserted the eraser into the brass section of the pencil end. She was found murdered in the factory on April 26, 1913. That fateful day was less than a week after Mary's fourteenth birthday. Leo Frank, plant superintendent, was the last person to see her alive. He was born in Texas and then raised in New York. He was of the Jewish faith. Leo Frank was a graduate of Cornell University. He had moved to Atlanta in 1908 and became the superintendent of the National Pencil Company. He was also an Atlanta socialite. Leo Frank was a member of a Jewish fraternal order. Newt Lee was the first African American to join the National Pencil Company as a night watchman. At the time of Mary Phagan's murder, he had only worked there for three weeks. On April 25, 1913 (the day before), Frank told him to report at four o'clock the next day, but when Lee arrived at the factory, Frank let him go until six o'clock. He returned and began his tour. Nothing was unusual until Frank called him later that day at seven to ask if everything was okay? He had never done this before. Newt Lee discovered Mary Phagan's bruised and bloodied body and called the police around 3:30 a.m. Jim Conley was the factory jani...... middle of newspaper...... The anti-Semitic accusations boosted sales of his newspaper. and stimulated an influx of letters praising him and his publication. Governor Slaton was under immense pressure from his constituents to uphold the court verdict. He researched Mary Phagan's murder extensively before making his decision. Slaton reviewed more than 10,000 pages of documents, visited the pencil factory where the murder took place and ultimately decided that Frank was innocent. Governor John Slaton commuted Leo Frank's sentence to life in prison on June 21, 1915, assuming that Frank's innocence would eventually be fully established and he would be released. ​​The Lynching of Leo Frank On August 16, 1915, Leo Frank was taken by a mob from the state prison in Milledgeville. He was hanged by the Knights of Mary Phagan in Marrietta, Georgia on August 17, 1915. Who Killed Mary Phagan?