Vocabulary Chapter 6 Trial By Fire: Fill & Download for Free

There are problems regarding the authenticity of the so-called Testimonium Flavianum (Jewish Antiquities 18.3.3 §63). For those unfamiliar with it, here is the relevant passage as quoted in the Loeb Classical Library edition (trans. Louis H. Feldman):About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who performed surprising deeds and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross, those who had first come to love him did not cease. He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things and a thousand other marvels about him. And the tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.Feldman, in a footnote of his translation, briefly discussed the arguments for and against the authenticity of the passage, which is greatly expanded here.Pro:This passage is found in all surviving manuscripts.Eusebius quoted this in full at around 324 CE (Demonstratio Evangelica 3.5).There is a reference to Jesus in Book 20 which indicates that he must have been described earlier in the Antiquities, logically at the discussion of Pilate in Book 18.The style and vocabulary is consistent with that of Josephus.Burden of proof on the skeptics, since the authenticity of the rest of the Antiquities is uncontested.Con:The passage is explicitly Christian in nature, which is unlikely from a Jewish writer. Currently the scholarly consensus is that at least some parts, if not all, of this paragraph, cannot be authentic, and some are convinced that the entire paragraph is an interpolation inserted by Christians at a later time. Some have even gone to the argument that the passage is an overenthusiastic forgery.Christian writers earlier than Eusebius did not quote or cite the passage even though it would have been in their best interest to do so. For instance Origen (Commentary on Matthew 10.17 and Contra Celsum 1.47) actually complained that Josephus had mentioned Jesus while at the same time not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.The passage marks a break in the context of the whole chapter. Book 18 (“Containing the interval of 32 years from the banishment of Archelus to the departure from Babylon”) starts with the Roman taxation under Cyrenius in 6 CE and discusses various Jewish sects at the time, including the Essenes and a sect of Judas the Galilean, to which he devotes three times more space than to Jesus; Herod’s building of various cities, the succession of priests and procurators, and so on. Chapter 3 starts with sedition against Pilate, who planned to slaughter all the Jews but changed his mind. Pilate then used sacred money to supply water to Jerusalem. The Jews protested; Pilate sent spies into Jewish ranks with concealed weapons, and there was a great massacre. Then in the middle of all these troubles comes the curiously quiet paragraph about Jesus, followed immediately by: “And about the same time another terrible misfortune confounded the Jews ...” Indeed, one can plausibly remove the paragraph altogether and the chapter would be more consistent in context.There are stylistic peculiarities that are not found in Josephus, such as the use of the first person in "the principal men among us".Interpolations have been found in isolated manuscripts of Josephus, such as accounts of Jesus in the Slavonic version.In the third point given for the authenticity of the Testimonium Jesus is mentioned in Book 20.9.1, which is given here in full:AND now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood, and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the [S]anhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble a [S]anhedrin without his consent. Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high priest (Italics mine.).However, there are several problems with this passage.The reference to “Christ” would have been obscure to Gentile readers at that time. Note that Josephus mentioned the Sadducees several times in the passage and made it a point to explain who they were. The single mention of “Christ” (and lack of explanation) is suspicious.After reading the rest of the text of this passage we find that the Jews were so angry about the stoning of James that they demanded that King Agrippa fire Ananus. Why would the Jews be angered over the killing of a Christian, since Christians were seen as heathens by the Jews?Finally, the Jesus mentioned in the passage was in fact one “Jesus, the son of Damneus” in the last line. The name Jesus (Ἰησοῦ) was a very common name, especially in the 1st century CE which lends to the confusion.Contrast the account of Josephus regarding the death of “the brother of Jesus…whose name is James” with the account written by Hegesippus (Fragments from His Five Books of Commentaries on the Acts of the Church V):James, the Lord's brother, succeeds to the government of the Church, in conjunction with the apostles. He has been universally called the Just, from the days of the Lord down to the present time. For many bore the name of James; but this one was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine or other intoxicating liquor, nor did he eat flesh; no razor came upon his head; he did not anoint himself with oil, nor make use of the bath. He alone was permitted to enter the holy place: for he did not wear any woollen garment, but fine linen only. He alone, I say, was wont to go into the temple: and he used to be found kneeling on his knees, begging forgiveness for the people-so that the skin of his knees became horny like that of a camel's, by reason of his constantly bending the knee in adoration to God, and begging forgiveness for the people. Therefore, in consequence of his pre-eminent justice, he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek Defence of the People, and Justice, in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him.Now some persons belonging to the seven sects existing among the people, which have been before described by me in the Notes, asked him: "What is the door of Jesus? " And he replied that He was the Saviour. In Consequence of this answer, some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects before mentioned did not believe, either in a resurrection or in the coming of One to requite every man according to his works; but those who did believe, believed because of James. So, when many even of the ruling class believed, there was a commotion among the Jews, and scribes, and Pharisees, who said: "A little more, and we shall have all the people looking for Jesus as the Christ.They came, therefore, in a body to James, and said: "We entreat thee, restrain the people: for they are gone astray in their opinions about Jesus, as if he were the Christ. We entreat thee to persuade all who have come hither for the day of the passover, concerning Jesus. For we all listen to thy persuasion; since we, as well as all the people, bear thee testimony that thou art just, and showest partiality to none. Do thou, therefore, persuade the people not to entertain erroneous opinions concerning Jesus: for all the people, and we also, listen to thy persuasion. Take thy stand, then, upon the summit of the temple, that from that elevated spot thou mayest be clearly seen, and thy words may be plainly audible to all the people. For, in order to attend the passover, all the tribes have congregated hither, and some of the Gentiles also."The aforesaid scribes and Pharisees accordingly set James on the summit of the temple, and cried aloud to him, and said: "O just one, whom we are all bound to obey, forasmuch as the people is in error, and follows Jesus the crucified, do thou tell us what is the door of Jesus, the crucified." And he answered with a loud voice: "Why ask ye me concerning Jesus the Son of man? He Himself sitteth in heaven, at the right hand of the Great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven."And, when many were fully convinced by these words, and offered praise for the testimony of James, and said, "Hosanna to the son of David," then again the said Pharisees and scribes said to one another, "We have not done well in procuring this testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, that they may be afraid, and not believe him." And they cried aloud, and said: "Oh! oh! the just man himself is in error." Thus they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah: "Let us away with the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruit of their doings." So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to one another: "Let us stone James the Just." And they began to stone him: for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned, and kneeled down, and said: "I beseech Thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."And, while they were thus stoning him to death, one of the priests, the sons of Rechab, the son of Rechabim, to whom testimony is borne by Jeremiah the prophet, began to cry aloud, saying: "Cease, what do ye? The just man is praying for us." But one among them, one of the fullers, took the staff with which he was accustomed to wring out the garments he dyed, and hurled it at the head of the just man.And so he suffered martyrdom; and they buried him on the spot, and the pillar erected to his memory still remains, close by the temple. This man was a true witness to both Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Christ.And shortly after Vespasian besieged Judaea, taking them captive.Obviously the two accounts could not have been different versions of the same event. The events described by Josephus can be reasonably dated at around 62 CE while that of Hegesippus suggests that James’ death occurred “immediately” (εὐθὺς) prior to the siege of Judea, c. 66–67 CE. And the circumstances are completely different.James was charged and brought to trial by the Sanhedrin according to Josephus. In Hegesippus’ account, there was no charge, and no trial, and presumably then no Sanhedrin.In Josephus, James “and some of his companions” were condemned, while James appears to be the only person killed in Hegesippus’ account.Josephus states that James (and some of his companions) were delivered to be stoned; while the stoning in Hegesippus’ account is an after-thought, since the fall from the summit of the temple (perhaps some thirty meters – see Jewish War 5.5.5) did not kill him.Based on evidence discovered in 1995, it seems that the Testimonium Flavianum had its origins from an unlikely source: the Emmaus narrative in the Gospel of Luke. This answer is too long to elaborate further, but the paper written by Dr. Gary Goldberg in “The Coincidences of the Emmaus Narrative of Luke and the Testimonium of Josephus” is very convincing, which one can read here.Therefore, one can reasonably agree that the Testimonium Flavianum—as well as the “James passage”— is at best a Christian interpolation. At worst, it was a forgery.I will not argue for or against the historicity of Jesus, but I would not lean too much on Josephus for evidence thereto.

Answered 5 March, 2020Yes, there is a genre of supervolcano fiction! It’s humourous the other answerer assumes the questioner betrayed her prejudices supposedly against volcanic potential, which wasn’t the case at all. Instead, he shows his unawareness of human commercial literary drive. Also, there is no way a large volcanic event at Yellowstone could happen next Tuesday as he said or next year. Yes, the Yellowstone supervolcano can wipe out humanity, but we'll have years of warningFear or perceived opportunity spawns art, some good and some bad. If spread by the internet, this is doubly so. Without going thorough the vetting of an established publishing house, much of the material out there is amateurish and poorly phrased, though well-intended.A Short History of the End of the WorldImagine your would-be famous author trying to find an unexploited niche, some theme to make their own by which to rise above the pack. Stephen King was ahead of the crowd when he wrote The Stand way back in 1978. Now there are scads of virus and pandemic fiction novels. Same with earthquakes, runaway AI, WWIII, the post apocalypse, psychic phenomenae, the paranormal, creepy humans and/or clowns, aliens, you name it. I’ve got it! The Yellowstone “Supervolcano!” I’m sorry to report, that has been mined, though mostly poorly. I count 38 fictional treatments, three of them movies of some sort. I will add more as I’m made aware of them. I bet I missed some; there’s a whole lot of self-publishing going on out there. Like the proliferation of poor Yellowstone tour guides, it’s easy to claim authorhood.Even if you write about a new challenge, it’s still necessary to have a good, believable story researched using the best knowledge regarding it, have compelling characters and to have been proofread well.To be fair, before the mid-teens, ash distribution models were inflated and before 2017 tomographic imaging had not yet revealed the 91% non-fluidic, non pressurised nature of the uppermost magma chamber. Jesse Lee O’Connor 李杰西's answer to What is going on with the Yellowstone volcano? Will it implode, explode or suddenly halt activity?But they should have known that was a crucial factor. No imminence equals no drama, which is where we are now, in the real world. In the 2005 teledrama “Supervolcano” magma chamber melt ratio was discussed but never measured when their supercomputer simulator VIRGIL could have done it easily. The hot spot cannot erupt to form a large caldera unless its upper chamber is more than 49% fluidic. Jesse Lee O’Connor 李杰西's answer to How much warning time would we likely have if the Yellowstone volcano was going to erupt? The least conservative, informed estimate is it will provide decades of warning; it cannot “go off tomorrow.” Yellowstone Supervolcano's Nasty Surprise: Only Decades To Prepare For An EruptionBefore the aughts, scientists knew Yellowstone had created three calderas. Then, it was pieced together that its volcano created many, all across Idaho.A recurring error among writers is their having the Yellowstone hot spot going from quiescence to “super” eruption (VEI-8) in too short a time. Also, an almost prevalent confusion exists between slowly falling ash and sulphur dioxide gas in the stratosphere. Yes, ash can be an aerosol but the minute particles able to reduce temperature are different than what’s covering the cities and killing car engines.The biggest problem is authors making up their own Yellowstone by ignoring where locations are in relation to each other and even what landmarks are called. A gifted writer may gain readers by their craft but if they haven’t learned their subject they will lose an audience who does. To would-be future writers, please run your manuscript by an experienced local first? A lot of embarrassment might be avoided. If you don’t see the grading criteria below, for a specific title, I haven’t read it yet but will add a review after do.C- charactersG - geographyP - punctuationS - storyT - time from detection ‘till eruptionV - volcanic realism, reasonable/researched scienceBobby Akart 20 July, 2018 Yellowstone Hellfire 1 of 4.C - cliched, G -, P +, S-, T-2 years after drilling begun, V - confuses “seismic activity, ground uplift and subsidence and gas releases,” which are common to Yellowstone, with “telltale signs of a potential eruption.” Claims super eruption is “overdue.” There is a huge difference between magmatic and tectonic earthquakes that is missed here as in most offerings. Describes the “YVO” a new physical structure at West Thumb in 2018. “Gibbon’s River.” “Lake View Cafe,” “fly fishing along the shoreline across West Thumb,” “The largest most dangerous active volcano on the planet.” Dozens to hundreds of frogs in a marsh on Yellowstone Lake. Eruption caused by “Project Hydro” drilling and fluid injection. Passing Old Faithful on the way to elephant back mountain from West Thumb. Cabins at Grant Village. A 1,200 square foot ranger residence on the Firehole River near Sentinel Creek. A borehole 15 miles deep, in hot, plastic rock 3 12 miles deep. The entire mantle characterised as magma, cell coverage near Cave Falls. Old Faithful erupting every 30 minutes. ”Yellowstone’s three prior eruptions have been greater than or equal to Toba.” “A [any] Yellowstone eruption will be at least 1000 times more powerful than Mount St. Helens.“ I could go on…Likable characters with realistic sounding jargon but completely fantastic.Cora Buhlert Christmas After the End of the World 15 December, 2019. Pretty good little story. C+, G + there is no park in this story, P+, S+, T hard to say. Protagonist is 13 and was unaware of any advanced warning. V + except for only light ash near Billings. Story is so pleasant I have no complaints. The reason there’s no other people is they were ordered to to evacuate and the young characters didn’t know.Paul Curtain Gray Snow: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller 6 February, 2019 Deeply psychological in painful detail yet believably so. C+, G+ played safe, no Yellowstone locations, P+, T- a day’s warning, V+ except for T complaint and ash in upper atmosphere instead of gas and fine particulate. Mostly quite enjoyable, except, as well-thought out and prepared as the story setup is, it feels very much like a typical disaster movie; these conflicting, baggage-laden principals are locked up in a small space to clash and to compromise in order to survive. The rawness and the finest of human spirit will be on display so that truth; good, bad and ugly, will be exposed and milked. Since I wrote that, all has turned much more realistically horrible. There is much to like here and much soap opera as well.Leonard J. DiSanza Seeds of Our Future 18 November, 2019 C+, G: bypassed by having no action in or near YNP, P+, S+, T?, V- relies upon humans inducing an eruption by nefarious yet undescribed methods. Claims climate change increases volcanism. Pleasant enough mystery though derivative and with likable characters. An enjoyable read.Jay J. Falconer and M. L. Banner Frozen World: Silo: Summers End 30 October, 2019 1 of 3 C+, G- could take place almost anywhere, nothing to do with YNP, P+, S+, T bypassed, never addressed, V-Yellowstone is never named but “The Event” 12 years previous include 91 volcanoes induced to erupt by humans - its hinted by nuclear devices. This is a fine action story with realistically complex characters and conflicts. Authors know their military hardware and culture well. However, the verbiage is tedious. Vocabulary is stilted to contrived. I would say no one talks like that but some do; highlights difficulty of writing realistic dialogue’s nuances that successful authors master. Multiple points of view and setups for future books drag out the fairly pedestrian post apocalyptic dystopian tale unnecessarily. Some continuity problems. If I enjoyed being inside the many characters’ minds more it would not seem so long and I’d eagerly read books 2 and 3 but I did not.John Fishwick and Lisa Wroble The Yellowstone Affair 10 April, 2017 C-trying far too hard, G-, P mostly + but could have been proofread better for stray unintended words, S-, T-(Projected, never occurs on page), V- “Ten thousand times Mt. St. Helens” would be VEI 9, which has never happened on Earth even though there are four more powerful eruptive sources on the planet. Stats from three most recent large eruptions are given with conclusion new one is “40,000 years overdue” with nothing to support that (2.1 MY/3=700,000 years, not 600,000.) Disagreement between Dr. Alvarez and YVO regarding multiple calderas? What’s to dispute about the patently obvious? (Volcanoes don’t erupt from calderas, they create them.) “70 feet of ash” on the closest cities? But from only 330 cu km ejected? Orion is a star? Arcturus is in Ursa Major? Comets influence volcanoes? “Geologist” says it can happen next year or in five years. This is a cloak and dagger on the lam tale which takes time to provide travelogue and cheerful geoscience education a la John McPhee along the way. All is put in motion by the proposal of the idea of overlapping calderas making an imminent catastrophic eruption. Though I’m sure they meant to say magma chambers, this is a commonly held and frequently broadcast fallacy completely unworthy of government cover up and murder. I can’t say if this book’s amateurishness or pretension is more offputting.Jean M. Grant Will Rise From Ashes 7 April, 2019 Author knows more about the human heart and autism than about volcanoes but the tradeoff is worth it. How refreshing is is to read a top notch story that shows restraint (especially volcanically), imperfect heroes and hope, above all. It’s especially gratifying to read the government isn't evil and order is maintained. Thoroughly enjoyable novel. C+, G+, P+, T-immediate, no warning, though protagonist believes the scientists knew but had “learned their lesson” from warning the public before Mt. St. Helens. V-”mankind’s largest volcano,” ash spread too slow, much more threat to health from ash than enflaming asthma, Will would have called for mask use much earlier than he did, “11 VEI 8 events” total in world with “3 from Yellowstone.” All is forgiven in light of this celebration of wonder from the perspective of an island of unconcern, of love.S L Hansen The Yellowstone Convergence 18 April, 2021 only available on Kindle Unlimited. Kind of like new Star Trek; we're required to pay extra on top of already paying extra - No. However, I was allowed to read five chapters as a sample. C+, G+, P+, S+, T & V can’t say without reading more. However, the stock and wildlife have been spooked for a few months and the introduction says big things will happen within ten days so I suspect full blown volcanism will develop out of essentially no warning though supernatural forces are probably partly to blame.Jack Hunt The Year Without Summer 9 October, 2018 Steals title misleadingly of book by Nicholas P. Klingaman and William K Klingaman The Year Without Summer C+, G mostly+, P+, S+, T-much too quickly but caused by NASA drilling, “poking a hornets nest with a stick,” V-This very entertaining read is much better than most and researched better. He actually correctly locates landmarks in the park mostly where they are. There are odd lapses such as having campsites above Bridge Bay Marina wiped out by a wave whilst people by the marina escape unscathed. A truck driving on a hiking trail, electricity in a backcountry cabin and cell service in 50% of the park are huge errors. I admit that number is reported online but includes back country high terrain and only one bar service areas too. My experience is no more than 20% of front country, including poor service. Dinner served in Mammoth’s map room? There are more errors such as never any talk of magmatic earthquakes but only frequency. The magma chambers are correctly identified as being too solid to super erupt but supposedly knowledgable characters still fear “the caldera unzipping.” As enjoyable as the characters and action story are, it’s driven by recent Yellowstone science headlines of the past two years, almost all of them, which are turned to upend all the current reassurances of geoscientists on their heads because of human interference. Drilling near magma doesn’t quite work that way. But it sounds right, to some or many. Praise to author for not padding story to excess and showing restraint with his eruption. An economical, well-paced story.Linda Jacobs Rain of Fire 1 June, 2006C+, G+(best of all reviewed), P+, S+, T: one month but is realistic for type of eruption described, V + only author with apparent geologic background. Small errors like 1–10,000 YA cinder cone in Yellowstone forgiven for sake of overall astuteness. Excellent read. I should say more but actually most of what I say in other reviews are criticism. Brevity here means I found little displeasing and much to praise.H. O. Knight Life After Chocolate: The Full Novel (Yellowstone) 31 May, 2018 Life After Chocolate C+, G-there aren’t 1,000,000 people within 100 miles of YNP, P+, S+, T-3 weeks, V-only to set story in motion, to cut off food supplies. There’ve been young adult fiction novels regarding dystopian society, vampires, angels, zombies and seemingly every other fantastic scenario when just being a young adult is already drama enough without needing to actually be during the end of the world. However, these characters are so well written and the story was compelling enough to get me past skepticism; I enjoyed this book greatly, prompting my first review ever of a work on Amazon. Author doesn’t know Yellowstone volcanism and, unlike most I’ve reviewed here, doesn’t depend upon it failingly but instead writes successfully and compellingly of humanity and what is worth striving for.Larry Lavoy Caldera: A Yellowstone Park Thriller, 14 December, 2012. Extremely well-written book! C+, G- more than an hour from north gate to Lake, P+, S+, T-2 months, V-. I’m sad to downvote volcanology because this author is better than most. Reasons: “magma” on surface, only “seven supervolcanoes” on Earth, common confusion of water/steam venting with volcanic pressure venting, all destroyed within 600 miles, “600,000 years of pent up energy,” “end of humanity as we know it,” overdue by 300,000 years, Mallard Lake dome normal uplift 2 mm/year, Lava Creek eruption 500 x Mt. St. Helens, Yellowstone region called the Midwest, [only] more than 2,000 square miles in area, lake slanting wrong direction from uplift, “this all happened before [in human history]” — no, not lava eruptions, ““Roosevelt elk,” “nuclear winter,” ashfall ended too soon, engines were able to operate during ashfall, and, the new ice age predictions have been abandoned by Yellowstone observers since the time when this book was written. Exciting, realistic read.andEscaping Yellowstone, 17 March, 2018, a title which has already been used. Not a sequel to Caldera.Kennedy Layne Essential Beginnings (Surviving Ashes Book 1) 21 July, 2015 1 of 5. It got off to a rough start and proceeded to present love at the end of the world. Book has believable romantic conflict and especially good thought put into realistic prepping but everything else seems very contrived and cliche. C-, G-no YNP at all but counting on local landscape to shield them from ash without considering the umbrella cloud effect. Also, Burke in Texas would be better off there than in the Pacific Northwest. S- padded, cliched, full of overdescription, P+, T- atrocious: 2 days after a destabilising earthquake, V-doubly deplorable: “overdue for more than 40,000 years.” Talk of going north to Canada which would be the wrong direction in volcanic winter. Not well researched at all. Filament for firmament? Trying too hard. But, this is the most sensual supervolcano fiction I’ve yet seen! “This end of the world crap was getting real old,” said the protagonist to himself when it interrupted passion. But then, when I’m convinced it’s a turkey, I began to enjoy the military depth of knowledge and developing conflict until the final pages reinforced my initial qualms. Won’t be reading book two.Amazon.com: Eminent Domain: A First Contact Thriller (The Eminent Series Book 1) eBook: Lafferty, W E: Kindle Store 27 February, 2020 C+Solid, enjoyable, G-messed up: 50 miles from Tower to Lake, Devils Den located at north end of park as well as east end of lake, flying to Cody to go to Old Faithful, P+mostly: “Ground Loop Road?” Editing errors, “Lookout Point,” ”Old Faithful Lodge” and “Lake Lodge” named though Inn and Hotel described. Camping at West Thumb Geyser Basin. Protagonist says she’s flying to JH but goes to Cody, YVO a physical building at Old Faithful. S-exciting but extremely derivative, T-weeks, V-terrible, especially from a skilled writer who’s done some homework: “worlds largest supervolcano,” “100,000 years overdue,” 16,500,000/142=116,197. “640,000 years,” “Almost 700,000 years since the last eruption,“ “Rhyolite less viscous than basalt,” “caldera becoming a supereruption,” continental plates “move around on top of magma,” huge underground aquifers holding down magmatic pressure, threat to most life on planet, “extinction level event.” Ejecta blown into space to destroy satellites and the ISS! The same old story, only written better. Nice to read an explanation for how advanced evolution could come about in only 4.5 billion years, we had help. As a bonus, in the afterward we learn Mr. Lafferty really does know there’s no YVO building at Old Faithful and that some of his geophysics is a bit fanciful. Really? An interference pattern from 36 black holes created a vaccuum that froze the magma to permanently cap the hot spot? He says he researched the most up to date USGS knowledge. That’s good to know but his controlled-collapse caldera wouldn’t spare the continent the physical consequences of collapse, no matter the cause, such as pyroclasts, gas and ash. It’s fine he realizes he took liberties with a known place that it’s obvious he visited. Abut, a $300 round-trip flight ticket from Albuquerque to Jackson? A 4 Hour drive to Jackson hole airport from Old Faithful? Ridiculous. My point is if you’re going to ignore real life locations you might as well invent your own setting, except, that wouldn’t bring in the readership. Talented but commercial. “The structure of the chamber beneath this volcano is enormous and not well understood. I took advantage of this and created a structure for the super volcano that is based on a few facts but is exaggerated in many ways.” There you have it. (It’s much better known than he’s aware.)Darrell Maloney Fire in the Sky 1 of 8 17 February, 2017 Fire in the Sky (The Yellowstone Event, #1) C-cliched, G-Caldera field measurement stations far too close to gateway community, P+ all the more sad how disappointing this is as the author has skill, S-we’ve seen it all before, T-decades in development! Should be +, except it was only temperature and pressure rising without other necessary telltale markers which presumably will escalate too quickly in subsequent books, V-last eruption 300,000 years ago. Brown park service uniforms. Title has been used before but with more fire and more sky, both lacking in this story. But everything else we’ve seen too much of in other works and especially in second rate television shows. It’s not deja vu I sense but plagiarism. Do you remember the show where all the rural police are corrupt good ol’ boys railroading people passing through? And there’s a helpful bail officer who replaces his desk name plate as a new kind of public servant each time the protagonist has need? I think it was on Green Acres. Oh, and the government agents are covering up a conspiracy and murdering contract geologists to avoid a panic because a super eruption is much less messy to deal with after it occurs than before. Padded excessively to stretch one book out into eight, so far. It’s a shame, too, because it got off to such a good start with unexpected mysticism. But initially likable characters became wearying with forcibly clever dialogue that must have sounded better in author’s mind than what made it onto the printed page.Frank Montgomery The Wrath of Yellowstone 2 April, 2015 1 of 3 Could be subtitled “Why we prep.” I agree with the philosophy, it just could have had a better spokesman. C-cliched, G-one hour into the park from east or NE got them out of park in MT at Eagle’s Rest Campground yet it was administered by a park ranger, with a green hat, P mostly + “in tact,” S- tiring, T-3 months, V-“Largest caldera supervolcano on earth, experts believe that Y is overdue for an eruption anytime within the next 20,000 years, $20 entrance fee,” switch from present tense in first chapter to past tense, “just outside NW entrance, thousands of moose (and other animals) leaving park, geysers all around the park began shooting up into the sky hundreds of feet higher than usual(protagonists would have no knowledge of this in the Gardiner area,) ash deposits from the eruption will shoot up into the air almost 20 miles.” Deposits. Freezing temperatures in Jamaica and Brazil. This story is realistically brutal, it has that going for it. “volcano released thousands of years worth of pressure.” Functioning gas stations.Mike Mullin Ashfall 27 September, 2011 book 1 of 3.5. C+, G+, P+, S+, T - one month after large earthquake, V: Mullin avoids pitfall of not knowing geology by beginning his story immediately after eruption and far from it, also saves not knowing layout of Yellowstone. Too much ash in eastern Iowa; I’m ok with that, the rest of the book is done so well. Very enjoyable.K. R. Nilson The Yellowstone Traps 30 July, 2018 1 of ? C + but stereotypes, G - Knows park better than most, then ignores it. P + not many mistakes, S - hackneyed, T - 6 months after harmonic tremours, V - same old errors. Sounds good but full of holes. Clever title! Traps are large igneous provinces but this could also be a life or death trap for protagonists! That is, if the reader endures the laboured, bruised prose to learn who lives or doesn’t. One reader’s impressive vocabulary is another’s bludgeon: “Pandemonium erupted as passengers recoiled in fright at the careening female flyer slamming about the cabin interior on the heels of the explosive noises.“ Caldera “lurks under much of Yellowstone,” “largest non-marine volcanic structure on earth,” “erupts violently at intervals of between 6–800,000 years,” big, male moose roaming all over the park day and night, superheated rock “plasma” three miles down, 640,000 years, book of “Revelations,” reservoir of magma expanding; stretching and flowing for 1,000s of centuries, walking quietly when known grizzly is near, 1959 quake killed a dozen souls? Walking from nonexistent geological station on Plover Point to Grant Village in a day, “Yellowstone Lake Inn” and uphill Lodge destroyed by only 20 foot waves. Road from Grant to Lake destroyed so protagonist drove to Mammoth to get there. I couldn’t read any more.A. J. Powers As the Ash Fell 23 April, 2015 1 of 2. C+, G: bypassed! Like Mullin did. P+, S+, T? Story begins 7 years after, V-: no ash has fallen but is confused with suspended aerosols. Sincere and good natured. Too many small batteries and too much propane and ammunition available in a scarcity society but forgivable as its stipulated 80% population has died. Knows his guns! Protagonist self loads.John D Randall The Yellowstone Conundrum (Is This It?) (Volume 1) June 28, 2016 1 of 6 C+, G-, P-, S: includes ISIS, Ebola, flooding rivers and a Texas-Mexico drug war, T: out of nowhere, V: could not read past p. 39. In comments, chastises FEMA for patterning their emergency preparedness drills on his book and not giving him credit. I’m not making this up. Please see Preparing for “The Big One”S. M. Revolinski Ashes into Stardust 16 April, 2016E. S. Richards and Mike Kraus Eruption 13 September, 2019, Escaping Darkness book 1 of 6. Very good-hearted book earnestly written and researched but not set in the real world. C-generic. If this was a movie, their headshots would line one side of poster in boxes- “who will survive?” G-. P- mostly solid but strange word choices could have been edited better, S-padded, predictable. We’re being set up for multiple volumes. T-weeks of less than expected evidence. V-It turns out “Yellowstone’s small airport” has an extremely long runway, though I don’t think authors have seen it. If you’re flying to Texas from it, you would be far from the centre of the park. Oh, I get it, they must have meant Gardiner MT, not West Yellowstone. Geysers are frequently already “at their boiling point” independent of increased ground uplift in story. Most of the northern hemisphere would not be blanketed by inches of ash though much of the US west would be and by more than that. It would take much more than weeks of microquakes and a “feeling” the earth had risen over a year to bring about a large scale eruption; these things are measured instead of merely sworn by. Plane crashed 200 miles out on north edge of Helena Montana whose airport they approach by a gravel road! Characters walked out of ash cloud even though so close, wondering where other people were, all killed it’s speculated. An arm floats by on a river of lava which is jumped across. Winds blow ash into the stratosphere? This is obviously written by people unfamiliar with Yellowstone and with large volcanoes. Eruptions average seven weeks? Next year I expect a new post-apocalyptic series from this team.Katie Slivenski The Seismic Seven 5 June, 2018. Very well written book and enjoyable to read with excellent, realistic characters; powerful dramatic twist. Author avoids criticisms from Yellowstone locals by not describing surface geography at all after the Beartooth Highway! Sadly, beneath the ground, I think she’s made up a new location, one with coal mines, tiny steam pockets in granite and rock which defies limitations of drilling at high temperature. I recognize her drilling “pods” are a dramatic creation calling for the unique stature of the protagonists but it’s a fantasy. Tracks don’t need to fastened to borehole walls in order to place explosives deeply. Also, at depth with increased temperature above a magma chamber, boreholes cannot maintain their structural definition let alone be a survivable location for humans. Then there’s having internet service whether from cables or cell towers in the midst of an eruption, it’s almost impossible on a good day. C+, G-, P+, S+, T-proposed as humans-induced—-not possible, V-. Finally, no matter how much they love their humans, ferrets (Eurasian polecats) aren’t apt to run on command nor come when called; they are distracted by everything. It’s true they were used to run wires through airplane wings. But train them to turn lights on or off? That being said, the author accurately depicts them traveling in and about their owners hood. Additionally, the entire idea of releasing a little magmic pressure to unzip an entire chamber depends on mythically already pressurised, fluidic magma; the upper chamber is only 9% melted and the lower one only 2%. Only small pockets could erupt. But that’s more feasible than rapidly drilling a borehole kilometres to under an eruption site rapidly in the middle of a cataclysm, the utter impossible engineering melee the climax turns into…Heath Stallcup Caldera 14 December, 2017 1 of 8 Caldera Book 1. Co opts title already in use. C+Believable, conversational, except for constant glib quipping during end of world drama a la Bruce Willis, gets old quickly, G-does not know Yellowstone, P+, S-, T-no lava or ash but no warning either; long-buried virus that killed neanderthal’s re-emerges now, V-does not know volcanoes. The caldera makes you into a zombie. Eek. Even with the most inventive source of conflict imagined, an author still profits from knowing a little bit about the scene of his novel. A rock concert in the park, USFS trying to thin forests, replanting NPS land, hundreds of millions of dollars spent fighting the fires of ‘88, a campground with no indication if it’s for legal camping or not, “natural jacuzzi” adjoining pullout, “natural ampetheater” near visitor centre, geysers and hot springs releasing enough pressure to keep the volcano from erupting, “ Speeding, drug dealers, alcohol to minors, public intox, burglaries, public displays, one guy with a gun-shaped bubble blower that almost got shot, what more could go wrong tonight?“ Funny you should ask… Author knows police procedures and crafts realistic characters but banks too much, 8 books! on there being a receptive, ready-made audience for horror of loved ones turned zombie with attendant emotional conflict. Padded, tedious, I expect the flirtatious genetic scientists that open the book will be seen again in another volume but not by me.Audun Stølås The Volcano 22 October, 2020. Was able to read a small sample, which was enough. C-, G- don’t think author has ever been to YNP, P- spelling is carefully good but language use is awkward, much lost in translation, S-, T-, V-. Magma pool under the volcano, the whole of North America will be covered by a thick layer of lava and ash, have been testing for three weeks with air cannon finding each week magma pressure has increased so that eruption should happen within 2–3 months, points to volcano, boulders come down with smoke though present moment is said to be safe, as if Yellowstone has a conventional cone-shaped volcano. “This was not the editor you came up with a case that contained half-truths because it had not been checked thoroughly enough on all bows and edges. Ed Dalton worked hard to get the newspaper to deliver honest journalism and at the same time go around financially. One day it had become too much for him. The stress level was alarming, and the heart was pounding…Finally, a news that was big.”— The Volcano by Audun StølåsEdward Tellar The Would-Be Mystic: And the Yellowstone Premonition 8 January, 2019S. J. Tellor Yellowstone 1 February, 2019 Yellowstone Refreshingly restrained and nicely psychological. C+, G+ safe, no YNP locations, P+, S+, T+/- on one hand there were years of notice in which to construct bunkers. On the other hand, the precise day of eruption was known. V+ Mostly enjoyable.Nick Thacker, The Enigma Strain 1 of 12, 27 November, 2014. C-formulaic, G-YNP mostly avoided, for good reason, during climax inside park author betrays no knowledge of real place, P-amateurish, S-padded for many future volumes but flimsy, T NA as dealing with human triggered potential eruption, V-awful, cliched, full of error. There was some enjoyable suspense; author has some language skills. However: “He had no idea how heavy it was or how delicate but he was beyond waiting around for something else to happen…it was just him, a bomb and not much time left…’if I get out of this there is no way anyone ever hiring me to be part of a bomb squad.’ Trial and error didn’t seem to be a factor in examining an explosive device but then again there was nothing else he could do. No fiery ball of fire ripped him to shreds as he played with the bomb-keg so he continued with the plan…Julie heaved downward with all her body weight. A strained noise escaped her mouth and Ben couldn’t help but notice how cute it sounded…’Oooh, that’s not the lightest thing I’ve ever lifted!’” This was painful.Same old errors could have been avoided by deeper research, beyond pop sources: a single keg-sized bomb under the lake could release lava so that “5–600 miles incinerated or covered by lava. Rest stop with brick shelter a few miles from the lake. Known cave under lake where crust is thinnest (less than 2 miles), underground system but most aren’t very big (average lake depth is 42 m.) Half of US will cease to exist, scientific fact, not if but when, 300 year old paper journal preserved by cold ground so that it’s read in the field, romantic chemistry forced and cloying, poison ivy in YNP, largest active volcano on earth, caldera scheduled to erupt again, some say it’s a complete mystery, chain reaction, enormous mass of molten rock below, destruction of entire nation, network of secret roads in park, centripetal force around curve, dozen hot spots, every 600,000 years.” Togetherness/proximity beats the virus — “The answer was too simplistic to be possible.”Jeff Thomson Fall #1 Pressure series 23 June, 2018 Fall (Pressure Book 1) Thomson employs much greater skill with the English language than in most titles listed here. Unfortunately, he’s so aware of his facility that the book simply oozes smugness. C+ likable yet cliched, from whore with a heart of gold to corrupt televangelist to obtuse government official to humble war hero to hottie geologist to perky cougar mom of adult character. G+ overall good though there is no physical “Yellowstone Observatory” in the park, P+, S- belaboured. Formulaic. Padded in typical multi-book epic style. But then, his chapterisation and successful story building hits his stride most successfully; he knows he’s good. T- just a few days, even though accelerated by continent-spanning earthquakes. V- harmonic tremours well after the magma began flowing, only one magma chamber, only one magma conduit leading to two vents too far from each other, Krakatau listed as greater than Tambora, pH “skyrocketing” to acidic rather than falling. A bus on the park roads in winter. He’s done his homework but needed to be vetted by someone more knowledgeable. “Thomas knew this was what people wanted to hear, needed to hear….a place to point their fingers.” I truly appreciate his references and his vocabulary. But his characters’ minds are so slick in their glib rejoinders and inner monologues that he reads like a more polished version of Harry Turtledove; it gets old fairly quickly. “How do you rape a whore?“ “I sound like some B-movie tough guy.” “Dogs and cats living together.” Book got better toward end. Author bravely avoided cliche of protagonists escaping ground zero narrowly. I like most of the characters and care for them almost enough to read subsequent books. But it’s all a bit too much.Harry Turtledove Supervolcano Eruption 6 December, 2011 1 of 3 (A fourth is threatened) Kudos for painting post eruptive horror in breakdown of technology. That’s all the good I can say. Characters are very busy trying to pretend the world isn’t ending. C-unpleasant, G-, P+, S- excessively padded, T: 2 years, V -. Tedious to annoying.Layne Walker Escaping Yellowstone 4 March, 2012 1 of 3Tim Washburn Cataclism 25 October, 2016 Cataclysm C+, G-, P mostly + on thing for one thing, S+ exciting, T-two vents in one day, caldera collapse in three, V-. Excellent suspense with realism of adventure story marred by bad science and geohistory. Old Faithful in “Lower Geyser Basin,” last eruption most of land collapsed back into magma chamber (ignorant of 80 most recent,) “worried about the caldera,” wondering if magma could be moving toward the surface when YNP geologists have the equipment to know magmatic from tectonic earthquakes, guessing, sofa and phone in Inn room (points for not calling it the lodge,) “caldera is a supervolcano,” “devastating for the entire planet,” assumes any eruption is VEI 8, Mammoth fifty miles from center of park, 4-wheeler to shore of Mallard Lake, nearly 100 foot high Inn lobby, Yellowstone River flowing backwards-into lake from N, “could spontaneously erupt if there’s an infusion of magma,” nearly a foot uplift in two places in a few hours and no parkwide evacuation because “panic would be recipe for distaste,” unable to detect harmonic tremours because of wind, implication of fracking as cause of eruption with no warning, 40 inches ash over most of Midwest, eliminate growing season across planet, shuttles to YNP from airports, magma connection to CA and Cascade volcanoes, vehicles sent W & N to avoid brunt of ash with prevailing winds, well-concealed maintenance shed at Biscuit Basin, Long Valley 3rd or 4th largest eruptions on earth, ATV travel alongside road in Gibbon Canyon with five people, then off-road front end loader travel to mammoth from Norris, Norris soil temperatures approaching 120°F called alarming, finally a harmonic tremour and and all of this on one very bad day. Off-road in a Bombardier snow coach between Roosevelt Lodge and Mt. Washburn? Ok, back on road but one that’s choked with burnt up cars? Five months of eruption. This author has done more homework than most and more onsite observation, enough to have known better.Bill Wetterman Yellowstone: A Fall From Grace 24 September, 2015Campbell Paul Young Ash: Rise of the Republic 25 May, 2015“2012” Screenplay by Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser 2008-2009, Columbia Pictures. Only four words: “The neutrinos have mutated!” Jesse Lee O’Connor 李杰西's answer to If the volcano in Yellowstone exploded, how far would the eruption extend? Would it be something like the movie 2012, or is that over-dramatic?“Super Eruption” 2011, SyFy presents. Utter drek. C-, G-main park roads are dirt, S-, T-two days, 30 days after earthquakes. V-“crystallising olivine to force magma into a crude state to prevent an eruption.” “Yellowstone hasn’t erupted for 148,000 years.” “Drain Yellowstone Lake into magma chamber to cool it down.” Old Faithful and Riverside Geyser going from water to lava eruption. One character is warned from the future which makes all the difference, but another isn't warned yet behaves differently for no reason than he did the first time around. “It seems science fiction can become science fact, sooner or later.” And helicopters fly just fine in heavy ashfall.“Supervolcano” Teledrama by Edward Canfor-Dumas and Julian Simpson 2003-2005, BBC. Jesse O’Connor's answer to What do you think of the 2005 movie made about the Yellowstone Supervolcano

Leo Max Frank (1884 – 1915) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1915 was convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan. Frank was Jewish. The verdict was mistaken. There were appeals. A sentence of execution was commuted to life imprisonment. A gang of armed men abducted Frank from prison and hanged him from a tree.See: Yair Davidiy's answer to Who was Leo Frank?The question Was Leo Frank evil? is in fact from an historical perspective not strictly relevant.It should preferably have been,Was Leo Frank guilty?Leo Frank lived in another age and a different place. Whether he was evil or not depends on what he did or did not do and also by what standards he is to be judged.Frank was born a Jew but he did not keep the Sabbath. The murder he was unjustly convicted of took place in the factory he supervised while he was working there. It was a Saturday! If he had have stayed home like a good Jew then he might not have gotten into trouble!Frank was besmirched at his trial for allegedly carrying on with Gentile women and propositioning others who were quite young as well as a young male. Whether true or not these allegations were probably the main factor that caused his death.According to the Bible Jews are forbidden to hold physical concourse with Gentiles.Deuteronomy (ESV) 7:3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and He would destroy you quickly.If Leo Frank had have behaved like a Religious Jew then the allegations may not have been made. On the other hand excuses to hate and persecute Jews do not really need a factual basis.After posting an answer to the question, Who was Leo Frank? See Yair Davidiy's answer to Who was Leo Frank?We received the following message:# Hi, Yair. There are four neo-Nazis on Quora that are spreading around Leo Frank propaganda and actually have created a Leo Frank space. You are not helping the situation by posting a link to “100 reasons why Leo Frank is guilty” in your answer.According to the Washington Post, Leo Frank stories on the internet generally have links to the recruitment into neo-Nazi organizations.One of the Leo Frank posts on Quora blaming a”kabal of Jews and Zionists” for protecting his reputation has more than a thousand upvotes. #The source in question, 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty, provides quite a bit of information about the trial and also reveals who those claiming his guilt really are:I listed the article in question as a source because I actually did use it when writing my post. Not only that but that article is blatantly prejudicial and mendacious. It shows by its own words that Leo Frank has been adversely treated and misrepresented by the “System” he was up against!The article apparently follows the case made by the Prosecution. It was claimed that: Mary Phagan came to the office of Frank on the second floor of his factory to pick up her pay. Frank tried to assault her. There was a struggle. She hit her head on a lathe outside the office. Frank called the janitor, Jim Conley, dictated two notes to him to be planted besides the body. He then had Conley help him take the body in the elevator to the basement. Conley had initially claimed that Frank dictated the notes to him the day before the murder. Altogether he was to give four different versions each times changing the previous one with police help.The Defense for its part was concerned to prove that Frank was innocent not to find alternative culprits. Nevertheless they tended to the view that the real culprit was Jim Conley the janitor. They also suspected that the night watchman, Newt Lee, who had discovered the body, may have assisted Conley. Two notes had been found by the body. They had been made to look as if Mary Phagan had written them.Jim ConleyConley admitted to writing the notes but claimed they had been dictated to him by Frank in his office. The police accepted the Conley explanation.One note was:"he said he wood love me land down play like the night witch did it but that long tall black negro did boy his slef."This note is saying that the Murderer had said that he would pretend that the night watchman [Lee] did it but the tall negro [?] did it alone.The other note said,"mam that negro hire down here did this i went to make water and he push me down that hole a long tall negro black that hoo it wase long sleam tall negro i write while play with me."This second note seems to imply, “The hired negro did this. I went to urinate, he pushed me down a hole...”If Frank dictated those notes why is the intention not much clearer? Frank was a mechanical engineer with a diploma, educated at tertiary level, a former President of the local Bnei Brith chapter, and so on. It was claimed that Frank had wanted to make it sound as if Conley was writing in his own dialect. Even if such was the case why make the intention so unclear?After the trail it was shown that the murder notes must have been written in the basement where Conley was, and not in the office of Frank: They had been written on dated order pads signed by a former employee that were only kept in the basement!After the trial, William M. Smith the attorney for Conley, admitted that ONLY Conley could have composed the notes since everything about them was in accordance with his style, vocabulary, and manner of expression.The Prosecuting Article to which offence was taken said:# 1. Only Leo Frank had the opportunity to be alone with Mary Phagan, and he admits he was alone with her in his office when she came to get her pay ­ and in fact he was completely alone with her on the second floor. Had Jim Conley been the killer, he would have had to attack her practically right at the entrance to the building where he sat almost all day, where people were constantly coming and going and where several witnesses noticed Conley, with no assurance of even a moment of privacy. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyIt was a Saturday and a holiday. People were coming and going but not that many. Jim Conley was not the only alternate suspect. The janitor, Newt Lee, was also suspected of being involved whether alone or together with Conley. Either Conley or Newt Lee could easily have lifted up the 13 year old petite Mary Phagan and carried her one flight of steps down to the basement where evidence indicates the murder actually took place. Lee says he arrived at 1600 and was told to come back at 1800. Mary Phagan had gone to collect her pay at about 1215. There was no-one in the basement and Conley had plenty of time and opportunity. Conley says that at one stage he went to the basement to defecate in the lift shaft. If he could take time off for that purpose he could so for other reasons. Lee found the body of Mary in the basement.Frank is described by Lee and by others as often appearing to have been "nervous." This is not incriminating. Not everyone has a physically dominant personality.Consider the following passage from The Prosecuting Article:# 5. When Leo Frank came out of the building around six, he met not only Lee but John Milton Gantt, a former employee who was a friend of Mary Phagan. Lee says that when Frank saw Gantt, he visibly “jumped back” and appeared very nervous when Gantt asked to go into the building to retrieve some shoes that he had left there. According to E.F. Holloway, J. M. Gantt had known Mary for a long time and was one of the only employees Mary Phagan spoke with at the factory. Gantt was the former paymaster of the firm. Frank had fired him three weeks earlier, allegedly because the payroll was short about $1. Was Gantt’s firing a case of the dragon getting rid of the prince to get the princess? Was Frank jealous of Gantt’s closeness with Mary Phagan? Unlike Frank, Gantt was tall with bright blue eyes and handsome features. # 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyThis evidence is presented as prejudicial to Frank but it is actually either irrelevant or in his favor. Newt Lee was a suspect. He is giving evidence concerning the reaction of Frank to the appearance of Gantt. If it is relevant why was Gantt himself not questioned on this matter? Gantt is also described as taller and more imposing than Frank. Gantt had been fired by Frank for suspected theft. He had reason to resent what Frank had done to him. Gantt turned up at the factory at a time when there was almost nobody else there. Why should the smaller in stature book-keeping Frank not have been somewhat apprehensive of him, if indeed he was? How does this point really implicate Frank? On the contrary, Frank said that the meeting with Gantt was confrontational. Nervous people are prone to get nervous.J. M. GanttThe Prosecuting Article claims:# 7. When police finally reached Frank after the body of Mary Phagan had been found, Frank emphatically denied knowing the murdered girl by name, even though he had seen her probably hundreds of times... 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltySome people are good with names. Some are not. I personally have known certain people for years, been on friendly speaking terms with them, been told what their names are, but still forgotten how to call them. For certain things I actually have quite a good memory, but names... That is something else.If Frank actually really knew Mary Phagan by name why should he pretend not to have done so?The Prosecuting Article claims:#9. Early in the investigation, Leo Frank told police that he knew that J. M. Gantt had been “intimate” with Mary Phagan, immediately making Gantt a suspect. Gantt was arrested and interrogated. But how could Frank have known such a thing about a girl he didn’t even know by name? 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyGood point. How did the police explain it? Either Frank said he did not remember her name or he did not say so. Men talk. It may not be a nice thing to do but this is the world we live in. Perhaps Gantt had boasted of his "conquest" to Frank?The Prosecuting Article claims:#10. Also early in the investigation, while both Leo Frank and Newt Lee were being held and some suspicion was still directed at Lee, a bloody shirt was “discovered” in a barrel at Lee’s home. Investigators became suspicious when it was proved that the blood marks on the shirt had been made by wiping it, unworn, in the liquid. The shirt had no trace of body odor and the blood had fully soaked even the armpit area, even though only a small quantity of blood was found at the crime scene. This was the first sign that money was being used to procure illegal acts and interfere in the case in such a way as to direct suspicion away from Leo M. Frank. This became a virtual certainty when Lee was definitely cleared. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyIf "the blood had fully soaked even the armpit area" why should there still be body odor? Why was Lee definitely cleared? This point was never accepted by the Defense.The body of Mary Phagan when discovered is described as:# 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. A 7-foot (2.1 m) strip of 1 4-inch (6.4 mm) wrapping cord was tied into a loop around her neck, buried 1 4 in (6.4 mm) deep, showing that she had been strangled. Her underwear was still around her hips, but stained with blood and torn open. # Leo Frank - WikipediaThis would suggest that more blood than the "small quantity" found at the crime scene had once been there.The Prosecuting Article claims:#11. Leo Frank claimed that he was in his office continuously from noon to 12:35 on the day of the murder, but a witness friendly to Frank, 14-year-old Monteen Stover, said Frank’s office was totally empty from 12:05 to 12:10 while she waited for him there before giving up and leaving. This was approximately the same time as Mary Phagan’s visit to Frank’s office and the time she was murdered. On Sunday, April 27, 1913, Leo Frank told police that Mary Phagan came into his office at 12:03 PM. The next day, Frank made a deposition to the police, with his lawyers present, in which he said he was alone with Mary Phagan in his office between 12:05 and 12:10. Frank would later change his story again, stating on the stand that Mary Phagan came into his office a full five minutes later than that. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty# 12. Leo Frank contradicted his own testimony when he finally admitted on the stand that he had possibly “unconsciously” gone to the Metal Room bathroom between 12:05 and 12:10 PM on the day of the murder. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyMary Phagan arrived at the factory by trolley (tram service) and could not have gotten there before 12:10 or later. The last version made by Frank is the only one that accords with the known time of arrival of Mary Phagan. This confusion in times actually indicates that Frank was bring harassed by questioning and when he made an error of 5 minutes was being treated as a suspect for murder.# Other testimony indicated that Phagan exited the trolley (or tram) between 12:07 and 12:10. From the stop it was a two- to four-minute walk, suggesting that Stover arrived first, making her testimony and its implications irrelevant: Frank could not be killing Phagan because at the time she had not yet arrived. # Leo Frank - WikipediaThe prosecution located the murder on the second floor opposite the office of Frank. Blond hair had been found in a lathe on this floor. A Government biological expert after microscopic examination of the hair on the lathe concluded that the hair was not that of May Phagan. Leo Frank - Wikipedia [This evidence however was not presented at the trial].The Prosecuting Article claims:#14. In his initial statement to authorities, Leo Frank stated that after Mary Phagan picked up her pay in his office, “She went out through the outer office and I heard her talking with another girl.” This “other girl” never existed. Every person known to be in the building was extensively investigated and interviewed, and no girl spoke to Mary Phagan nor met her at that time. Monteen Stover was the only other girl there, and she saw only an empty office. Stover was friendly with Leo Frank, and in fact was a positive character witness for him. She had no reason to lie. But Leo Frank evidently did. (Atlanta Georgian, April 28, 1913) 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyOn the contrary. Why would Frank invent "another girl" if none existed?There are about 86 other points made in the article against Frank all of the same nature. Here are a few more:The Prosecuting Article claims:#18. One of the “clews” provided by Frank was his claim that Newt Lee had not punched the company’s time clock properly, evidently missing several of his rounds and giving him time to kill Mary Phagan and return home to hide the bloody shirt. But that directly contradicted Frank’s initial statement the morning after the murder that Lee’s time slip was complete and proper in every way. Why the change? The attempt to frame Lee would eventually crumble, especially after it was discovered that Mary Phagan died shortly after noon, four hours before Newt Lee’s first arrival at the factory. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyPeople get confused. They sometimes have mistaken impressions. Anyone who has been party to a police inquiry or had to give evidence knows that.If however, as the Prosecution claimed, Frank had tried to implicate Lee, the janitor, why did he do it for the wrong time? If Frank was guilty why did he try to set Lee up four hours too late?The factory Frank worked for hired the Pinkerton detective agency to investigate the crime. They hired two detectives but one of them had close ties with the police, particularly his best friend, detective John Black who believed in Frank's guilt from the beginning. The Pinkerton team are quoted as inclined to conclude that Frank was guilty though they admitted to having no firm evidence either way. They also had financial disagreement with the people who hired them.The Prosecuting Article claims:# 20. That is not to say that were not factions within the Pinkertons, though. One faction was not averse to planting false evidence. A Pinkerton agent named W. D. McWorth ­ three weeks after the entire factory had been meticulously examined by police and Pinkerton men ­ miraculously “discovered” a bloody club, a piece of cord like that used to strangle Mary Phagan, and an alleged piece of Mary Phagan’s pay envelope on the first floor of the factory, near where the factory’s Black sweeper, Jim Conley, had been sitting on the fatal day. This was the beginning of the attempt to place guilt for the killing on Conley, an effort which still continues 100 years later. The “discovery” was so obviously and patently false that it was greeted with disbelief by almost everyone, and McWorth was pulled off the investigation and eventually discharged by the Pinkerton agency. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyThe findings of McWorth were not accepted.Why not?M. D. McWorthThe Prosecuting Article claims:#39. Rogers also states that he personally inspected Newt Lee’s time slip ­ the one that Leo Frank at first said had no misses, but later claimed the reverse. The Atlanta Georgian on May 8 reported what Rogers saw: “Rogers said he looked at the slip and the first punch was at 6:30 and last at 2:30. There were no misses, he said.” Frank, unfortunately, was allowed to take the slip and put it in his desk. Later a slip with several punches missing would turn up. How can this be reconciled with the behavior of an innocent man? 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty#40. The curious series of events surrounding Lee’s time slip is totally inconsistent with theory of a police “frame-up” of Leo Frank. At the time these events occurred, suspicion was strongly directed at Lee, and not at Frank. 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyThe claim is that Frank changed the original time slip of Newt Lee, the night watchman, with another one. The first slip is alleged to have shown that from 1830 in the evening to 0230 in the morning Lee had punched in the time every hour.The second slip indicated the same but had a few misses. This was done it was charged in order to make it appear that Lee had taken time off after 1830 to murder Mary. Frank had done this when the police suspected Lee of being involved in the crime. Later the police came to the conclusion that the murder had taken place between 1200 to 1230, or actually 1215 to 1230 since Mary could only have arrived at the factory after 1215.If Frank had committed the murder would he not have had some idea as to what approximate hour he did it in?The Prosecuting Article claims:#42. Factory Foreman Lemmie Quinn would eventually testify for the defense that Leo Frank was calmly sitting in his office at 12:20, a few minutes after the murder probably occurred. As to whether this visit really happened, there is some question. Quinn says he came to visit Schiff, Frank’s personal assistant, who wasn’t there ­ was he even expected to be there on a Saturday and holiday? ­ and stayed only two minutes or so talking to Frank in the office. Frank at first said there was no such visit, and only remembered it days later when Quinn “refreshed his memory.” 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyIt is implied that because Frank when first questioned did not recall the visit of Quinn that the visit did not take place. How so? A 2-minute chat if someone who was not supposed to be there and was looking for someone else could easily slip one's mind especially under pressure and being grilled by antagonistic aggressive policemen. Why reject the evidence of Quinn and W. D. McWorth when it was in favor of Frank while accepting that of others when it was against him?The Prosecuting Article claims:# 43. As reported by the Atlanta Georgian, City detective John Black said even Quinn initially denied that there was such a visit! “Q: What did Mr. Quinn say to you about his trip to the factory Saturday? A: Mr. Quinn said he was not at the factory on the day of the murder. Q: How many times did he say it? A: Two or three times. I heard him tell Detective Starnes that he had not been there.” (Atlanta Georgian, May 8, 1913, “Black Testifies Quinn Denied Visiting Factory”) 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyWhat did "Detective Starnes" have to say about that? Could John Black have misunderstood what was said. Why not ask the person spoken to?The Prosecuting Article claims:#55. Much is made by Frank partisans of Georgia Governor Slaton’s 1915 decision to commute Frank’s sentence from death by hanging to life imprisonment. But when Slaton issued his commutation order, he specifically stated that he was sustaining Frank’s conviction and the guilty verdict of the judge and jury…. He also added, of Jim Conley’s testimony that Frank had admitted to killing Mary Phagan and enlisted Conley’s help in moving the body: “It is hard to conceive that any man’s power of fabrication of minute details could reach that which Conley showed, unless it be the truth.” 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyThis report is disconcerting. It contradicts other accounts quoted in the Wikipedia article.# The commutation was headline news. Atlanta Mayor Jimmy Woodward remarked that "The larger part of the population believes Frank guilty and that the commutation was a mistake."[176] In response, Slaton invited the press to his home that afternoon, telling them:All I ask is that the people of Georgia read my statement and consider calmly the reasons I have given for commuting Leo M. Frank's sentence. Feeling as I do about this case, I would be a murderer if I allowed that man to hang. I would rather be ploughing in a field than to feel for the rest of my life that I had that man's blood on my hands. [176] Oney Surce: Oney, Steve. And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank.” Leo Frank - WikipediaHe also told reporters that he was certain that Conley was the actual murderer.[176]Oney p. 503. Slaton privately told friends that he would have issued a full pardon, if not for his belief that Frank would soon be able to prove his own innocence.[n 22]# Leo Frank - Wikipedia"Privately, Slaton confided to friends that he believed Frank innocent and would have granted a full pardon if he were not convinced that in a short while the truth would come out and then 'the very men who were clamoring for Frank's life would be demanding a pardon for him.' The Governor knew certain 'facts' about the case, which he did not reveal at the time, corroborating the defense's theory of the way Conley had murdered Mary Phagan."[177] Dinnerstein 1987, pp. 129, 169–171. Dinnerstein, Leonard. “The Leo Frank Case,” 1987. Leo Frank - WikipediaWe see from the above that Judge Slaton expressly declared that he believed that Leo Frank was innocent.An appeal has been made to the superior civilized sensibilities of Conley as against those of Frank as if Conley would not be liable to make the mistake of thinking he could kill and get away with it whereas (it is implied) Frank would.The Prosecuting Article claims:#79. Does it really make sense that the somewhat literate and fairly intelligent Jim Conley, a black man in the extremely race-conscious and white-dominated Atlanta of 1913, where lynch law often reigned supreme, actually thought he could get away with attacking and killing a white girl just a few feet away from the unlocked front door of the factory where he worked, in the highest-traffic area of the building? And does it make sense that he would do so for $1.20 ­ Mary Phagan’s entire pay ­ as the defense alleged? If Conley was plotting to rob someone, does it make sense that he would choose such a place to do so ­ or choose from a pool of potential victims considerably poorer than he was? 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyLogical or not, crimes such as that postulated do occur and are not infrequent.The trial was accompanied by the threats of a large crowd outside. They were threatening Frank and shouting anti-Jewish slogans. This has been denied.The Prosecuting Article claims:#87 “Dinnerstein makes his now-famous claim that mobs of anti-Semitic Southerners, outside the courtroom where Frank was on trial, were shouting into the open windows ‘Crack the Jew’s neck!’ and ‘Lynch him!’ and that members of the crowd were making open death threats against the jury, saying that the jurors would be lynched if they didn’t vote to hang ‘the damn sheeny.’100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty“But not one of the three major Atlanta newspapers, who had teams of journalists documenting feint-by-feint all the events in the courtroom, large and small, and who also had teams of reporters with the crowds outside, ever reported these alleged vociferous death threats. And certainly such a newsworthy event could not be ignored by highly competitive newsmen eager to sell papers and advance their careers. ....100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty“During the two years of Leo Frank’s appeals, none of these alleged anti-Semitic death threats were ever reported by Frank’s own defense team. There is not a word of them in the 3,000 pages of official Leo Frank trial and appeal records – and all this despite the fact that Reuben Arnold [Frank’s attorney] made the claim during his closing arguments that Leo Frank was tried only because he was a Jew… Yet, thanks to Leonard Dinnerstein, this fictional episode has entered the consciousness of Americans of all stations as ‘history’ – as one of the pivotal facts of the Frank case.”100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyThe Defense team repeatedly emphasized that prevailing threatening atmosphere against witnesses and jury precluded the ability of Frank to receive a fair trial. This was one of their main themes. it was repeated in the appeals made afterwards. it was also reported by the Press.Newspaper reports describe an atmosphere”of anger and intimidation. “Large and angry mobs inside the courtroom and standing outside chanted “Hang the Jew!” The Lynching of Leo FrankThe local press may not have reported mob agitation but other newspapers did. The local press itself became a party to the incitement:As one editorial put it: “When are the Northern Jews going to Let Up on Their Insane Attempt to Bulldoze the State of Georgia? WOMANHOOD MUST BE, AND SHALL BE PROTECTED; and we mean to have that understood by lascivious young Jews.” The Lynching of Leo FrankThe southern USA may not have been as anti-Jewish as is sometimes imagined but antisemitism existed. It was not that idyllic. In recent times due to the emergence of the State of Israel and an improved understanding of Biblical Prophecy many southerners now have positive feeling towards the Jews. This however does not mean it was always that wayThe Prosecuting Article claims:#89. Far from being a region rife with hatred for Jews, the South in general and Atlanta in particular were regarded by Jews as a haven and as a place nearly free from the Antisemitism they suffered in other parts of the nation and the world. Even today, and even after Jewish-gentile relations there were strained by the Frank case and by Jewish support for the civil rights revolution, the Christians who form most of the population of the South are stoutly pro-Jewish. The South is the center of Christian Zionism and American support for the Jewish state of Israel. ...100 Reasons Leo Frank Is Guilty“If there was prejudice against Leo Frank in 1913 Atlanta, it was almost certainly not because he was a Jew. He was, however, a capitalist, a business owner, a manager, an employer of child labor, and a Northerner with an Ivy League education. He also came to be known during the course of the trial as sexually profligate. These facts probably did count against him.” 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyAfter his sentence and while incarcerated Frank had his throat slit by a fellow inmate. A day or two later while recovering he was taken by an armed mob from the jail and publicly hanged by that same crowd.No-one disputes this. No -one disputes it happened in the south.If they did it to Frank, they could do it to others.I would say that a certain degree of trepidation against that happening would have been justified.Frank is described in The Prosecuting Article as," a capitalist, a business owner, a manager, an employer of child labor, and a Northerner with an Ivy League education. He also came to be known during the course of the trial as sexually profligate. "Whether true or not these epithets do not make one a murderer.He may have been "an employer of child labor," but it was legal at the time and the children needed work. Being "sexually profligate" is to be denigrated and reprehensible but it is a common affliction.The Prosecuting Article claims:#93. Southern attitudes toward Jews can be further gauged by the fact that, during the Civil War, Southerners made a Jew their Secretary of the Treasury: Judah P. Benjamin was the first Jewish appointee to any Cabinet position in any North American government. Benjamin also served as Attorney General, Secretary of State, and Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America. He was so highly regarded that his portrait graced the paper money of the South. Meanwhile, around the same time, Northern general Ulysses S. Grant issued an order physically expelling all Jews from the parts of the South under his control, even demanding that they leave a huge multi-state area “within 24 hours.” 100 Reasons Leo Frank Is GuiltyPossibly true enough but does that mean Frank must have been guilty?If someone asserts that Frank was innocent and that an innocent man was lynched does that impugn Southern Honor?The Prosecuting Article claims:#98. Why did the Leo Frank defense team, consisting of some of the most skilled attorneys in the state, refuse to cross-examine 20 young women and girls who testified that Frank had a bad moral character? Under Georgia law, the prosecution was only allowed to use these witnesses’ testimony to enter the general fact that Frank’s character was bad. Under cross-examination, though, the defense could have forced the girls and women to give specific reasons and relate specific incidents that supported their opinion, and trip them up if they could. Why, then, did they not do so? The only reasonable answer: They knew Leo Frank’s character, and they did not dare allow any specifics to go before the jury.Was Frank being tried for murder or for fornication?Since the trial and lynching more and more evidence has come to light. It exonerates Leo Frank.For example,There is, however, one promising source: a study conducted by Conley’s lawyer, William M. Smith. The morning after Phagan’s murder, the police found two strange notes by her body. Conley swore that Frank dictated the notes to him in hopes of directing suspicion at another black factory worker. The story was improbable, but in the heat of the moment, the jury and most Georgians believed it. Following the trial, Smith examined the notes, comparing them to other written and spoken remarks by Conley. He determined that the notes, contrary to Conley’s testimony, were not dictated by Frank. They feature Conley’s syntax, misspellings, and slang. According to Smith, they are Conley’s compositions. Did Leo Frank kill Mary Phagan? 106 years later, we might finally find out for sure.