Leo M. Frank, manager of the pencil factory, was a Jew. Sentiment ran
high against him at the time of the murder. This ballad was composed by
young Bob Salyers of Cartersville, Georgia, who heard the story on all
sides. He could neither read nor write.
Come listen all ye maidens,
A story I'll relate
Of pretty Mary Phagan
And how she met her fate.
Her home was in Atlanta
And so the people say,
She worked in a pencil factory
To earn her meager pay.
She went down to the office
One April day, it's said;
The next time that they saw her,
Poor Mary, she was dead.
They found her outraged body--
Oh, hear the people cry--
"The fiend that murdered Mary
Most surely he must die."
James Conley told the story,
"'Twas Leo Frank," he said,
"He strangled little Mary
And left her cold and dead."
Now Frank was tried for murder,
His guilt he did deny.
But the jury found him guilty
And sentenced him to die.
His life he paid as forfeit;
And then there came a time
Another man lay dying,
And said he did the crime.
We do not know for certain,
But in the Judgment Day,
We know that God will find him
And surely make him pay.
--Bob Salyers