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Who is Leo Frank and why is there a tribute to him?
Leo Frank was a Jewish Northerner who moved to Atlanta, Georgia to manage a pencil factory. He had a fairly decent and respectable life. He was a college graduate with a good job and a wife. He helped to found the Jewish Anti-Defamation League. However, in 1913 Frank was accused of the murder of a 14-year-old female employee, Mary Phagan. At that time in Georgia, there was a lot of prejudice and hate aimed at both Jews and Northerners. The South was still recovering from its defeat in the Civil War. Because of this hate, many people wanted Leo Frank to be guilty. They needed someone to blame, and who better than an outsider like Leo Frank?
The trial was a long ordeal. Prosecuter Hugh Dorsey accused Frank of not only murdering Mary Phagan, but of soliciting young girls and women employed at his factory. Dorsey persisted with this accusation, despite the fact that many female employees testified to Frank's good character and swore that he had never flirted with them.
Leo Frank was found guilty and sentenced to death. His guilt was largely based on the testimony of Jim Conley, a janitor at the pencil factory. Conley claimed that he had helped Leo Frank hide Mary's body, but that he had no part in the murder. Notes in Conley's hand were found near the body. Conley had a criminal record and changed his story several times. There were also gaping holes and contradictions in his testimony which went unnoticed during the trial. Some believe that Conley is the real murderer of Mary Phagan.
While being held in prison, Frank was attacked by other prisoners. His throat was slit and he nearly bled to death.
Leo Frank's wife Lucille, who felt that Leo had not been given a fair trial, launched a campaign to save her husband's life. Eventually the Governor of Georgia, Jack Slaton, looked into the case and decided that the trial was unjust. He commuted Leo Frank's death sentence to life in prison.
When news of the Governor's decision reached the public, there was a flood of Anti-Jewish hate crimes. A group of armed citizens dragged Leo Frank from his prison cell in the middle of the night and lynched him. The lynchers called themselves the Knights Of Mary Phagan. Some of them would go on to form the Ku Klux Klan.
When Leo Frank's mother was asked if she could ever forgive the mob who killed her son, she replied:
"Do not ask me whether I forgive the murderers of my son. Perhaps some day I will be able to answer that. Just now I can only quote Leo's favorite passage from the scriptures. It was: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' I might add, 'but they will some time.'
Why call this page, 'All The Wasted Time'?
"All The Wasted Time" is the title of a song from the Uhry/Brown musical, Parade, which tells the Leo Frank case through music. One of the subplots in the musical is the relationship between Leo Frank and Lucille, and "All The Wasted Time" is their duet towards the end of the show.
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