James Phagan

News Obituary Article

DECATUR: James Phagan, nephew of 1913 murder victim

By KAY POWELL

Growing up, James Phagan would sit on his mother's lap while she told him stories of his Aunt Mary, a beautiful girl who was murdered.

In time, he realized his Aunt Mary was 13-year-old Mary Phagan, whose murder at National Pencil Co. in Atlanta on April 26, 1913, made history. Factory supervisor Leo Frank, a Jew, was convicted of the murder.

The governor, responding to doubts raised about Mr. Frank's guilt, commuted his death sentence, but a mob took Mr. Frank from the state prison in Milledgeville, and he was lynched near Marietta.

The incident made and toppled political fortunes in Georgia, revived the Ku Klux Klan and resulted in the creation of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Amid a wave of anti-Semitism, half of Atlanta's Jews moved away.

Mr. Phagan and his family never spoke publicly about the incident for 70 years.

The funeral for James Edward Phagan, 75, who died of a heart attack Sunday at his Decatur residence, is 2 p.m. today at A.S. Turner & Sons.

Mr. Phagan had careers as an Air Force master sergeant and with the post office. In retirement, he was a tireless advocate for disabled veterans and was the state's volunteer disabled veterans commander 1996-97 and 2000-01.

Mr. Phagan "was outgoing all the time, he never shut up," said his military buddy Paul Hakins of Ocala, Fla. "He was a very educated person. Sometimes, he would be talking way over my head."

At play, his friend could hypnotize people and was a fantastic cribbage player, said Mr. Hakins, adding: "I would never play chess with that man because he was so good."

When Mr. Phagan's daughter was born, he named her after his Aunt Mary "to carry on something that had become a part of our heritage," he said in a 1983 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article. "Working families don't have legacies to leave. They only have bits of heritage, and this is part of that heritage."

When a coalition of Jewish groups sought Mr. Frank's pardon in 1982, Mr. Phagan waited a year to oppose it, a year he spent grieving over the accidental shooting death of his son Michael Phagan. When he did speak publicly, he contended that Mr. Frank was convicted of the crime by a jury of his peers.

The decision to go public, he said, was a relief after so many years of self-imposed silence. "This is a part of the history of the state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta, and it belongs to the people of this state as much as it does to the family," he said in 1983.

In 1986, when Mr. Frank was pardoned, Mr. Phagan was philosophical about the decision. "I opposed the pardon, but I can accept the decision and live with it," he said, admitting the controversy would never be laid to rest.

Survivors include his wife, Filomena M. Phagan; two daughters, Mary Phagan-Kean of Marietta and Phyllis Ann Fowler of Sutherlin, Ore.; a son, James E. Phagan Jr. of Loganville; a sister, Betty Goldsberry of Miami; and six grandchildren.

© 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution