The Story of the Jews: The Leo Frank Case
The most infamous case of anti-Semitism in America occurred in Atlanta. On August 17, 1915, Leo Frank was lynched in Marietta, Georgia. Two years earlier, Frank had been accused, indicted and convicted for the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old girl found murdered in the basement of the National Pencil Company factory where Frank was the superintendent. After Georgia Governor John Slaton commuted the sentence from death by hanging to life in prison, a group of influential citizens in Atlanta executed a bold plan to abduct Frank from his jail cell and lynch him in Marietta close to Mary Phagan’s ancestral home.
A Jewish Yankee Comes to Atlanta
Leo Frank and his wife Lucille Selig Leo Max Frank was raised in Brooklyn, New York and attended the Pratt Institute and later Cornell University where he studied mechanical engineering. He enjoyed leisure activities of the upper class such as tennis, chess and bridge and he was a frequent operagoer. He was also well traveled, particularly in Germany where he studied pencil manufacturing. When Frank arrived in Atlanta to work at the National Pencil Company, these activities, his industrialist background and his Yankee mannerisms made others, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, uncomfortable.
Frank met Lucille Selig shortly after arriving in Atlanta and married her despite their apparent differences, such as her disinterest in speaking Yiddish. He was known to be quite handsome and social, even in Atlanta, where he was a member of the Jewish fraternal organization, B’nai B’rith. He was well known, not because he was Jewish, but because he was one of the many Yankee industrialists who had moved to the South for profit. This made him quite unpopular in some southern circles.
The Murder of Mary Phagan
Saturday, April 26th, 1913, was Confederate Memorial Day. That morning, 13-year-old Mary Phagan took a streetcar from her home in Bellwood to the National Pencil Company factory to collect her pay before heading to the parade. She arrived at the factory around noon and proceeded to Leo Frank’s office on the second floor.
more: http://www.gpb.org/blogs/passion-for-learning/2014/03/26/the-story-of-the-jews-the-leo-frank-case
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This is in response to the series "The Story of the Jews" currently showing (6 parts) on PBS. Part One was very interesting!
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... thanks to your reference. 
Our paper did an in-depth article on it, and I believe my son learned about it while studying the state's history in school. I'll have to ask him tonight...sad...I'm going to look for the series on demand to record.
Not only is it fascinating (though I admit I've gotten angry and/or choked up more than once...), but host Simon Schama was great on Bill Maher and he's just excellent on this. 
