Mayhayley Lancaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mayhayley Lancaster (1875-10-18—1955-05-22) was an American lawyer, political activist and teacher best known for having participated as an attorney in two of Georgia's most high-profile murder trials, involving defendants Leo Frank in Marietta and John Wallace in Coweta County.
Mayhayley Lancaster was 39 years old in 1915, during the Leo Frank case, a widely-known miscarriage of justice exacerbated by anti-semitism, in which the Jewish defendant, on flimsy evidence, was falsely accused of murdering 13-year-old employee Mary Phagan. Thirty-two years later, in 1947, the 71-year-old Mayhayley Lancaster took part in the Wallace trial, later described in the book Murder in Coweta County. In the 1983 same-titled made-for-TV movie, she was portrayed by 54-year-old June Carter Cash whose husband, Johnny Cash, played the key role of the persistent sheriff determined to bring to justice the arrogant millionaire John Wallace (Andy Griffith).
Mayhayley Lancaster died five months before her 80th birthday. In addition to her legal, political and educational activities, she was also described as a noted fortune teller, numbers runner and self-proclaimed "Oracle of the Ages".
