Eugene Herbert Clay (October 3, 1881 – June 22, 1923) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Marietta, Georgia, and one of the ringleaders in the lynching of Leo Frank.[2][3]
Eugene Herbert Clay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor of Marietta, Georgia | |
| In office 1911–1912 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 3, 1881 Marietta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | June 22, 1923 (aged 41) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Relations | General Lucius D. Clay |
| Children | Eugene Herbert Clay, Jr. |
| Parent(s) | Senator Alexander S. Clay and Frances (White) Clay |
| Residence(s) | Marietta, Georgia[1] |
| Alma mater | University of Georgia, Mercer University |
He was born in Marietta, Georgia to Senator Alexander S. Clay and Frances (White) Clay.[1][4] Clay attended the University of Georgia and the Mercer University, graduating in from the latter with an LL.B.[1][4] He was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity.[1][4] He served as the mayor of Marietta, Georgia from 1911 to 1912.[1] He was twice elected Solicitor General of the Blue Ridge Circuit and served on the State Democratic Committee.[1]
In 1915, he helped plan the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose murder conviction and extrajudicial hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob drew attention to questions of antisemitism in the United States.[2]
He married Virginia Hudson of Pocahontas, Virginia, on December 27, 1919.[1] He also had one son, Eugene Herbert Clay, Jr., by a prior marriage.[1] In the fall of 1920, he was elected to the Georgia Senate.[1] He was president of the Georgia Senate as of 1922.[1] On June 22, 1923, Clay died suddenly of a heart attack in the Wilmot Hotel at Atlanta, Georgia.[5]
His youngest brother was General Lucius D. Clay a senior officer of the United States Army who was later known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II.
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Daniel Decatur Moore (1922). Men of the South: A Work for the Newspaper Reference Library. Southern Biographical Association. p. 434.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b Oney, Steve And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank
- ^ Alphin, Elaine Marie Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
- ^ a b c Chi Phi (1924). The Chi Phi Fraternity, Centennial Memorial Volume. The Council. p. 216.
- ^ "Herbert Clay Dies Suddenly". The Macon Telegraph. Macon, GA. 23 Jun 1923. p. 7.
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