Voting Station

Leo Frank

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Murderer (Alleged)

The Resume

    (April 17, 1884-August 17, 1915)
    Born in Cuero, Texas
    Raised in Brooklyn
    Jewish manager of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta
    Accused of raping and murdering 13-year-old employee Mary Phagan on April 26, 1913
    Despite no hard evidence against him convicted of murder and sentenced to death (August 26, 1913)
    Sentenced commuted to life in prison by Georgia Governor John M. Slaton (June 20, 1915)
    Forcibly taken by an angry mob from the Georgia State Prison in Milledgeville, driven to Marietta (near Phagan's childhood home) and lynched at age 31
    Case made into the 1988 TV movie 'The Murder of Mary Phagan' starring Peter Gallagher as Frank
    1997 novel of the case, 'The Old Religion,' written by David Mamet
    Broadway musical of the case, 'Parade,' won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Score and Best Book of a Musical

Why he might be annoying:

    Rival newspapers engaging in yellow journalism took sides, one proclaiming the guilt of Frank and the other of the factory's black janitor Jim Conley.
    Conley was a drunk and ex-con who was placed at the murder scene and admitted lying to the cops but was never indicted.
    The deep south wanted vengeance for the murder of a white girl and opted to convict the rich Jewish guy over the poor black guy.
    After the lynching, roughly half of the 3,000 Jews living in Georgia left the state.
    The perpetrators of the lynching, calling themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan, helped to rekindle interest and reform the Ku Klux Klan.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He claimed his innocence from the start until his lifeless body swung from a tree.
    Gov. Slaton made the unpopular decision (at a cost of his career) to commute the sentence because he believed Frank was innocent.
    His trial and conviction sparked the birth of the Anti-Defamation League.
    His last request was that his wedding ring be returned to his wife, and the request was honored.
    Nobody ever went to trial for his murder.
    In 1982, Alonzo Mann, a 13-year-old office boy at the pencil factory back in 1913, swore in an affidavit he saw Conley dragging Phagan's body and was threatened with death by Conley to keep silent.
    Due to Mann's affidavit, and with the urging of the Anti-Defamation League, he was posthumous pardoned by the State of Georgia (March 11, 1986).

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 19 Votes: 47.37% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 70 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 65 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 94 Votes: 43.62% Annoying