From journalist Amber Hunt and the Obsessed Network
At 3:00 am on April 27th, 1913, the body of 13 year old Mary Phagan was found in the basement of the factory where she worked in Atlanta, Georgia. Her dress was up around her waist and a strip from her petticoat had been torn off and wrapped around her neck.
Her face was blackened and scratched, and her head was bruised and battered. Almost immediately, the murder, and the mystery surrounding who would do such a horrible, brutal thing to a child, went the 1913 equivalent of viral.
When authorities finally landed on a suspect, their evidence was flimsy at best. The trial was a media spectacle and the outcome not only embedded this story in American history, but also sparked child labor laws.