Eugene Herbert Clay

Eugene Herbert Clay (October 3, 1881 – June 22, 1923) was 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 (1923-06-23) (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.