253. Little Mary Phagan

 

253
Little Mary Phagan

One of the South's greatest murder stories was commemorated,
for a while at least, in a folk song of fairly wide diffusion. The
main facts are summarized in the New York Times of August 18,
1915-

Mary Phagan was killed on April 26, 1913, under most revolting cir-
cumstances. Her bruised body was found on a pile of cinders in the
refuse bin in the dark cellar of [the National Pencil Factory at Atlanta,
Georgia] early the following morning by Newt Lee, negro nightwatch-
man. At the time the child met death [Leo M.] Frank [superintendent
of the factory] and a dissipated negro employee named Conley were in
the factory. They were arrested, first Conley on suspicion, when he
was found washing his shirt, and later Frank himself was charged with
the murder and Conley with being an accomplice. The negro confessed
and charged Frank with the crime. Conley, after his confession, was
sentenced to one year in the chain gang.

His sordid story was to the effect that Mary Phagan had gone to
Frank to obtain her pitiful wage of $1.20, and had been attacked by
the latter. There was no one in the factory at the time except the girl,
Frank and the negro. Conley swore that he had simply aided Frank in
disposing of the girl's body. It was on his evidence, largely, that
Frank was convicted on August 25, 1913, [and sentenced to death by
Justice Roan].

Of the remainder of the story — a furious nationwide controversy,
involving racial prejudice, concerning Frank's guilt; the commuta-
tion of Frank's sentence to life imprisonment; the cutting of Frank's
throat by a fellow-convict; the kidnaping of the scarcely recovered
victim ; and the lynching of Frank by a Georgia mob on August
17, 191 5 — the ballad does not tell.

In JAFL XXXI 264-6 Franklyn Bliss Snyder published a "ballad
on Leo Frank and Mary Phagan," taken down, c. 1917, at Bessemer,
Alabama, from the singing of a wandering one-armed young Geor-
gian, who "made no claim to the authorship of what he sang, though
he said he made up some of the tunes. (He had been a guitar-
player of considerable ability before his accident.)" Professor
Snyder's informant "had heard it in various forms from a number

 

NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 599

of different people . . . and no one had ever seen it in print." To
him the ballad seemed "to represent a piece of folklore 'in the
making.' " His text, twenty stanzas in length, though confused
about some details, is rather thoroughly circumstantial. The North
Carolina texts (one recovered in 1919, a second in 1922, the third
and fourth at unknown dates) follow Snyder's in some respects but
show considerable compression.

Henry, in FSSH 336-7, and Carter, in JAFL xlvi 39-40, pub-
lished texts from Tennessee ; Gardner and Chickering, in BSSM
352, one from Michigan, which seems to refer to a lynching (not
of Frank but of the janitor). Morris FSF 81-4 contains two texts
from Florida.

A
'Little Mary Phagan.' Dr. Brown noted : "Collected by Miss Nancy
Maxwell at Hazelwood [Haywood county], N. C, from a girl named
Bertha Bailey, who was reared in the mountains of East Tennessee
near the North Carolina line. The air was collected also." — "The MS
must be in the hand of Bertha Bailey, as Nancy Maxwell was an ad-
vanced student in English in 1919, incapable of such an illiterate MS"
(N. I. W.).

1 Little Mary Phagan she went to town one day.

She went to the pencil factory to see the great parade.
She went to draw her money that she had worked the week

before,
Down in the pencil factory with Leo Franks, you know.

2 She left her home at eleven o'clock and kissed her mother

good-bye ;
Not one time did the poor girl think that she would have

to die.
Leo Franks met her with a bruteless heart, you know.
He smiled and said, 'Little Mary, you will go home no

more.'

3 He sneaked along behind her till she reached the middle

room.
He laughed and said, 'Little Mary, you met your fatal

doom.'
Down on her knees she was crying, 'Leo Franks,' she plead.
He took a stick from the trash pile and struck her across

the head.

4 While the tears rolled down her rosy cheeks and the blood

flowed down her back,
She remembered telling her mother the time she would be

back.
How Leo Franks killed little Mary, it was on one holiday.
He called on old Jim Conard for to carry her body away.

5 He drug her down the stairway by her head, by her feet.
Deep down in the basement little Mary lay a sleep.

 

6oO NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

Utely was the watchman. He came to wind his keys.
Deep down in the basement little Mary he could see.

6 He called upon the officers, some names I do not know.
They come and said, 'Jim Conard, Jim Conard, you must

go.'
They took him to the jailhouse and locked him in the cell,
But the poor old innocent negro knew nothing for to tell.

7 Little Mary is in heaven, and Leo Franks in jail,
Waiting for the day to come that he could tell his tale.
But the poor old Judge and jury they passed his sentence

well.
Little Mary is in heaven, and Leo Franks in hell.

 

'Little Mary Faggen.' From Miss Mamie Mansfield, Durham, c. 1922-2.^.
"as sung by F. Coleman, 1922."

1 A little Mary Faggen,
She went to town one day.
She went to the pencil factory
To receive her weekly pay.

2 She left her home at eleven,
And kissed her mother good-by,
But little did the poor girl think
That she was going to die.

3 Leo Frank, he met her

With an evil heart, you know.
He smiled and said, 'Little Mary,
You won't go home no more.'

4 Down upon her bending knees
To Leo Frank she plead.

He picked up a stick from the trash pile
And struck her on the head.

5 Tears run down her rosy cheeks,
While blood flowed from her back.
She remembered telling her mother
The time she would be back.

6 Leo Frank killed Mary,
It was one holiday.

They sent for Lamar Gardner
To take her body away.

7 He took her to the basement
And bound her head and feet,

 

NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 6oi

And down in the basement
Little Mary lay fast asleep.

8 Judge Rose, he passed the sentence,
You know he passed it well ;

He passed little Mary to heaven
And Leo Frank to hell.

9 Little Mary is in heaven,
While Leo Frank is in jail.

They are waiting for that wonderful day
To tell their awTul tale.

c
'Little Mary Phagan.' From Miss Effie Tucker ; no date, no address.
Ten stanzas: i and 2 close to A 1-2; 3 says "villian met her . . .
With a brutal heart" (the name of Frank does not appear in the
ballad) ; 4 goes back to A for the scene of the murder, but says "metal
room" ; 5 names the watchman correctly and says "he would the key" ;
the text continues :

6 They called for the policemen,
Their names I do not know.
They came to the Pencil Factory
And told Newt he must go.

7 Her mother now weeping,

She weeps and mourns all day ;
She prays to meet her baby
In a better world some day.

8 Just along passed the city.
You bet he did not fail.
Solicitor New Dautry

He sent the brute to jail.

9 Her son he asks the question ;
The angels they did say
Why he killed poor Mary
Upon one holiday.

10 Now, come all you good people.
Wherever you may be ;
Suppose now little Mary
Belonged to you or me.

 

'Little Mary Phagon.' From Merle Smith, Stanly county; undated,
fragment — two stanzas corresponding to the first two of B and C.

E
'Little Mary Phagen.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection.

 

602 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

1 Little Mary Phagen,

She went to town one day ;
She went to the pencil factory
To get her little pay.

2 She left her home at seven ;
She kissed her mother good-bye.
Not one time did the poor child think
That she was going to die.

3 Leo Benton met her ;

With a brutal heart, we know,
He smiled and said, 'Little Mary,
You'll go home no more.'

4 He sneaked along behind her
Until she reached the little room.
He laughed and said, 'Little Mary.
You've met your fatal doom.'

5 Jim Newt was the watchman,
And when he turned the key,
Away down in the basement
Little Mary he could see.

6 He called the policemen.
Their names I do not know ;
They came to the pencil factory
And told Newt he must go.

7 Her mother sits a-weeping,
She weeps and prays all day ;
She prays to meet her baby
In a better world some day.

8 Judge Long passed the sentence ;
You bet he did not fail.

Oh, then he passed a sentence
To send the brute to jail.

9 Come, all you good people,
Wherever you may be,
Suppose Little Mary
Belonged to you or me.

F
'Mary Phagan and Leo Frank.' One of 133 miscellaneous items con-
tributed in 1923 by Miss Eleanor Simpson, East Durham, a member of
Dr. Brown's Summer School class in folklore.

I Little Mary Phagan went to the mill one day ;

She went to the pencil factory to draw her little pay.

 

NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 603

Leo Frank he met her. he met her with an awful sigh ;
He said to her, 'Little Mary, this day you are going to die.'

She knelt on her knees before him and prayed that she

might live
And go back to her dear old parents and the friends that

she loved best.

But Leo Frank did not listen to a single word she had said,
But he picked up a stick from the trash pile and hit little
Mary on the head.


---------------------------
 

253
Little Mary Phagan

 

'Little Mary Faggen.' Sung by Mrs. Rives. Recorded at Boone, Watauga
county, in 1940.

 


Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: ab (4,4) ; b is some-
what related to a.