Sunday, 12th April 1914: Reward Of $1,000 Offered By Burns, The Atlanta Constitution

Detectives are now seeking information concerning reports that Leo Frank is a pervert or immoral. A reward of $1,000 is offered by Detective William J. Burns for satisfactory information in connection with these reports. This offer was made Saturday afternoon in a letter to The Constitution.

Burns, who left the city Saturday afternoon at 5 o'clock, said before his departure that he had made public his wish to receive any information to the effect that Frank was sexually abnormal, but that, thus far, he had received no such data in his investigation. Burns did not make public his destination of this trip, but it was said he will return at an early day. His report, attorneys for the defense stated Saturday, will likely not be made for ten days or more, probably two weeks. Its delay, it is said, will be caused by a new chain of evidence which he is said to have found.

In a letter to the editor of The Constitution, Burns wrote, "In making my investigation of the Frank case, it is of the highest importance that I get at the truth of the reports concerning acts of sexual perversion and of immorality on the part of Leo M. Frank. In the papers yesterday, I requested that persons having information bearing in any way on the matter would communicate with me at once. Having received no response at all from anyone, and having obtained no information in this way, I am compelled on account of the matter, to make this statement: That I will pay $1,000 to any person or persons who will furnish me any definite and satisfactory information on the above lines. You will understand that I am very anxious to give this offer all the publicity possible, and I will appreciate it very highly if you will publish this offer for me. Yours very truly, (Signed) WILLIAM J. BURNS."

"If Detective Burns wants information as badly as he pretends, he wants it," said Chief Lanford to a reporter for The Constitution last night. "I'll certainly furnish him with what I believe to be convincing proof. And I won't take any of his $1,000. I wouldn't take a reward from Burns or anybody. I think he can save money by consulting me. I have proof, and I will be ready to reveal it to Mr. Burns at any time he cares to see it."

Detective Burns left the city at 5:10 yesterday afternoon on a Louisville and Nashville limited train. It is rumored that he goes to Cincinnati to interview Dewey Hewell, the girl witness for the prosecution, who has recently repudiated her testimony in a sensational affidavit now in the hands of Frank's defense. The Hewell girl, who is a former employee of the National Pencil Factory, is an inmate of the Home of the Good Shepherd in Cincinnati.