Ed Jackson and Charles Pou

The University of Georgia

August 20

1913 In Fulton County Superior Court, the trial of Leo Frank entered the twenty-first day. Having presented all of their evidence, Frank's defense team rested their case. Prosecutor Hugh Dorsey then called several female ex-employees of the National Pencil Factory to the stand. They all testified that they had a bad opinion of Leo Frank's character but could not give concrete examples of immoral behavior on his part. After their testimony, Leo Frank again was called, by the defense, to repudiate their statements. Shortly after 4 p.m., the evidence phase of the case was closed, with final arguments set to begin the next day. Click here for a detailed accounting of the case.

1918 Gov. Hugh Dorsey signed the FY 1919 appropriation act that included the following salaries for certain state officials:

Governor	$5,000
Attorney General	$3,000
Insurance Commissioner	$3,000
Commissioner of Agriculture	$3,000
State Treasurer	$2,000
Secretary of State	$2,000
State School Superintendent	$2,000
State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges	$4,000
Speaker of House and President of Senate	$7 per day during legislative session
Members of General Assembly	$4 per day during legislative session

1920 Gov. Hugh Dorsey signed an act creating the State Department of Archives and History.

1923 Gov. Clifford Walker signed an act requiring that all schools and colleges in Georgia supported by public funds to provide instruction in the essentials of the U.S. and Georgia constitutions, and that no student could graduate without first passing an examination on the provisions and principles of both constitutions.

1933 Gov. Eugene Talmadge led a group of over 500 Georgians to Chicago's World's Fair -- called a "Century of Progress Exposition." This was Georgia Day at the Exposition.

1980 Thirteen year old Clifford Jones, visiting his grandmother in Atlanta, was strangled to death. He was the latest victim in the Atlanta Child Murders case.

Georgia towns and cities incorporated by acts approved on August 20:

1889 Bruton (Laurens County)

1906 Eastville (Oconee County), Edison (Calhoun County), Funston (Colquitt County), Hickox (Wayne County), Winston (Douglas County), and Yonker (Dodge County)

In Their Own Words on This Day. . .

1772 The hot, steamy Georgia weather and frequent violent thunderstorms were often a cause for colonists' complaints. In this letter to royal governor James Wright (then in England), Savannah merchant James Habersham tried to be as positive as possible about the situation:

"...You know that wet weather generally produces severe and too often fatal autumnal Fevers, but at present we are remarkably healthy, and if we get through the next Month and part of October, as well as we have hitherto done, we shall have great Cause of Thankfulness, and altho' I do not suffer a little from the Heat, I have better Health, than I had from Xtmas almost to the End of May, and am at present tolerably well..."

Source: Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. VI, The Letters of the Hon. James Habersham, 1756-1775 (Savannah, Georgia Historical Society, 1904), p. 203.

1861 From camp near Williamsburg, Va., Capt. W. C. Holt of Co. C, 10th Ga. Infantry wrote to S.W. Parker in Cusseta, Ga. of his early experiences in the war:

". . . To give you anything like a true statement of all I have seen since I have been connected with the Army would tire me in writing, you in reading and consume more paper then I have on hand . . . .

[W]e are getting along very well, most of our men are well, as for myself, I never enjoyed bettor health in my life, I gained ten pounds since I left there. We have the largest Company in the Regiment -- I reckon Cusseta must look pretty dull now, so many having left there. We have a good deal of fun, and about, as much hardships and privations. I suppose Brannon has entirely given out coming to war. We have but 2 now in the Hospital, C. J. Wooldridge sick with fever, very now nearly, well, has not been very sick , and L. G. Cobb sick, mumps, he is also nearly well. Burts has just got from there, he had the mumps, and his Cod's swelled enormously. . . ."

Source: Glen Spurlock's Articles About the 10th Georgia

1864 Eight days after Gen. Hood had issued a similar order to his Confederate troops defending Atlanta, Union Maj. Gen. Schofield issued Special Field Order No. 88 to soldiers and officers of the Army of the Ohio, which provided in part:

"The major-general commanding is pained to find it necessary again to call the attention of the officers and men of this command to the disgraceful practice of marauding and plundering which, in spite of past orders, is still prevalent in the command. All officers and soldiers are strictly forbidden to pass beyond the skirmish line, except by order of a division commander. When foraging parties are sent out they must be sufficiently strong to protect themselves and always in charge of a trustworthy commissioned officer who will be held to a right responsibility for the good conduct of the party. Any soldier found entering the house of a citizen without permission, or taking the property of citizens, or committing any outrage whatever, will be punished with the severest penalty of the law. The attention of all commanding officers of cavalry, as well as infantry, is called to this order. It must be enforced and obeyed."

Source: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (originally printed 1891, reprinted by The National Historical Society, 1971), Part 5, Vol. 38, pp. 620-621.