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Book Review of The Leo Frank Case: The Controversial History of the Arrest and Trial of a Jewish Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder in the Early 20th Century

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What an interesting story! This book opens with the admission that "anti-Semitic hysteria led to one of the most shocking episodes of mob justice in early 20th-century America." (location 34 of 705) Leo Frank was convicted on flimsy circumstantial evidence. The conviction was so controversial that the Georgia governor commuted Frank's death sentence.

However, people, enraged with the commutation, stormed the prison, grabbed Leo Frank, and lynched him, complete with photographs. Not one of the perpetrators of this crime was ever prosecuted, even though their full faces were shown in numerous newspapers. Appallingly, souvenir postcards were published.

Even though the case occurred in 1913, it is still not closed. There are lots of photos (including those of the grisly hanging scene -- complete with the witnesses).