Report of Assistant Superintendent Harry Scott: May 18, 1913

The following pages contain a correct copy of the report of assistant superintendent Harry Scott dated May 18, 1913, and sent to the National Pencil Company on May 23, 1913;

Asst. Supt. H. S. reports.
Atlanta, Georgia
Sunday, May 18th, 1913.

This morning I went to Police Headquarters with Supt. H. B. P. and Detective John Black, and arranged to take a statement from James Conley, the negro sweeper formerly employed at the factory of the National Pencil Co., who has been under arrest for the past two weeks, he being arrested on suspicion when he was seen washing one of his shirts in the pencil factory, and it was not known why he attempted to wash the shirt.

I took the enclosed brief statement from Conley regarding his movements on Saturday, April 26th, 1913.

James Conley had previously told Detective Black that he could not read or write. However, he wrote several words and sentences at my dictation and I finally had him write the words "But that long tall black negro did by hisself". These were the concluding words of one of the notes found beside the body of Mary Phagan in the basement of the pencil factory. Conley's handwriting is a great many respects resembled the writing on the note, the characteristics being alike.

I then took up with the question with Conley as to why he had hidden behind the packing box on the second floor of the factory when he saw the detectives entering the factory on Monday, April 28th, 1913, but he denies this emphatically. He also denied making ungentlemanly remarks to the girls Helen Ferguson and Lilla Mae Pettis.

I then had Mrs. J. A. White brought to Police Headquarters and stood Conley up with 12 other negro prisoners, and requested Mrs. White to pick out the negro she saw sitting on the packing box at the base of the stairway on the ground floor of the pencil factory on Saturday, April 26th, 1913, when she left the factory at about 1:00 P.M. Mrs. White after scrutinizing the negroes closely, picked out a negro wearing a green derby hat, and being smooth shaven, as resembling the man she saw, she was asked to again scrutinize the line of negroes, after which she picked out James Conley as looking like the man she saw.

I then dismissed all of the negro prisoners with the exception of the one wearing the green derby hat and James Conley, and stood these two men up together and asked Mrs. White to pick out the negro she saw at the factory and she picked out James Conley. However, she was not at all positive in her identification, and she has for the past week or two stated repeatedly that she would not know the negro again if she saw him.

James Conley's negro woman companion, who admitted that her name was Lorena Jones, was brought to Police Headquarters and questioned by Supt. H. B. P. and Chief of Detectives Lanford.

Conley denied emphatically that he had any connection whatever with the murder of Mary Phagan, and stated positively that he was not near the pencil factory on Saturday, April 26th, 1913. We were unsuccessful in having Conley make any damaging admissions in this case.

We remained with Conley until 7:00 P.M., at which time I discontinued.

Reported
Atlanta 5/23/13.
S