James Milton Gantt Protests His Innocence
Discharged bookkeeper says he went to factory Saturday only to retrieve a pair of shoes; Frank corroborates the account
Declares He Knew Mary Phagan But Had Not Harmed Her
His whereabouts on Sunday remain unexplained; purpose of his visit to Marietta unknown
J. M. Gantt, who was discharged three weeks ago from his position as bookkeeper at the National Pencil Company, was arrested shortly before noon Monday at Marietta in connection with the murder of Mary Phagan.
Gantt was the man police had been seeking throughout Monday morning, though they had refused to reveal his name. He was taken into custody by Bailiff Hicks of Marietta just as he stepped off a street car that had brought him from Atlanta.
Gantt maintains his innocence and says he knows nothing of the murder. He acknowledges visiting the pencil factory on Saturday afternoon to collect a pair of shoes he had left behind before his discharge, but denies returning to the factory afterward or being in Mary Phagan's company at any point during the day.
In a brief statement made at Marietta, he said he knew the murdered girl but that they were not close friends. He said that after retrieving the shoes he went home and stayed there through the night, and that he did not learn of the murder until Sunday morning.
What he did on Sunday is not accounted for, and his reason for traveling to Marietta remains unexplained.
Permission Granted
Superintendent Frank of the National Pencil Factory corroborates Gantt's account of the Saturday visit. Frank said that around 6 o'clock that evening, Gantt came to the factory and asked permission to retrieve an old pair of shoes he had left there before his discharge. The Negro night watchman, Newt Lee, asked the superintendent whether Gantt should be allowed in, and permission was granted.
However, after Frank arrived home around 7:30, he grew uneasy and telephoned the factory to find out when Gantt had left. Lee told him the former bookkeeper had departed immediately after collecting the shoes.
That is the extent of what factory officials and employees know of Gantt's movements that day, and police have offered little additional information.
When detectives learned Monday morning that Gantt had been at the factory on the day of the murder and was acquainted with Mary Phagan, they moved quickly to find him. Two detectives, accompanied by a factory employee who knew Gantt personally, went to the Terminal Station in search of him, and the hunt extended to other parts of the city. Nothing came of it until Bailiff Hicks arrested him upon his arrival in Marietta.
Detective Hazelett has since traveled to Marietta to bring Gantt back to Atlanta. Armed with a warrant charging Gantt with the crime, sworn out in Atlanta by Detective Ozburn of the local police force,
