Monday, 28th April 1913 - Trio of Youngsters Observed Steering a Faltering Maiden [Unnamed Observers], Atlanta Georgian reveals a significant witness statement in the inquiry into 13-year-old Mary Phagan’s murder, her strangled body discovered on April 26, 1913, at the National Pencil Company. E. S. Skipper, from 224 1/2 Peters Street, reported to Atlanta police on this Monday that around 10 p.m. Saturday, he observed three flashily attired young men leading a weeping, faltering girl matching Phagan’s description on Forsyth Street. He noted her possible drugged state and reluctance, countered by the men’s persistence, and trailed them from Pryor Street near Trinity Avenue to Whitehall, then toward Mitchell Street, before heading to Terminal Station, able to identify them. Adam Woodward, night watchman at 35 Forsyth Street, heard screams around 11 p.m., aligning with Skipper’s account and suggesting Phagan’s coercion. This Atlanta Georgian report, amid the Leo Frank case’s onset, underscored 1913 Atlanta’s racial and social unrest.
