The Modern Ku Klux Klan Part 2

My resignation as Kleagle was reluctantly accepted by J. M. McArthur, the King Kleagle, who wrote me to that effect and asked me to meet him in Chattanooga for the purpose of securing my final release, which was given me the latter part of June, 1921. While my name was never mentioned, the exposure of the Klan which was made by the _World_ brought forth the statement from the Atlanta headquarters that "the individual responsible for the attack had been discharged from the propagation department for conduct and character unbecoming a gentleman." As a matter of fact, I have in my possession a letter from McArthur expressing "genuine regret" at my resignation, warmly commending me for "excellent work," and granting me "an honorable discharge from the propagation department of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." Fortunately for the cause of decent Americanism, King Kleagle McArthur is one of these "ready letter-writers," and the letters written by him to me have all been filed away. Some of them were valuable pieces of doc.u.mentary evidence to sustain the case made against the Klan by the _World_.

I was invited by McArthur to attend two meetings of the Klan in Chattanooga, where I found the movement strongly organized. At one of these meetings the leader of the local Klan, a physician, made one of the most incendiary speeches I have ever heard, a speech that was vociferously applauded by a large gathering of Klansmen. He made a violent attack on Jews, Negroes and Catholics, and stated that: "the Knights of Columbus have 2,000 rifles stored in the Catholic church; they will before long march down Market Street armed with their rifles; and the Ku Klux Klan must organize and arm itself for the purpose of protecting the city from the designs of this murderous organization."

Having resigned from the propagation department, I then withdrew from "citizenship" in the "Invisible Empire," and denounced it in the _World_ and its a.s.sociated newspapers. Although my letter was registered and mailed to _William J. Simmons_ personally, I never received any reply. The letter read as follows:

"You are hereby notified that I have this day voluntarily withdrawn as a 'citizen' of the 'Invisible Empire,' Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., and shall no longer consider myself in any way connected with the organization. After five months of 'citizenship' in the 'Invisible Empire,' three months of which were spent as a Kleagle, I have reached the conclusion that your proposition is a historical fraud; that it is a money-making scheme run for the benefit of a few insiders; that it is engaged in an evil propaganda in promoting unwarranted religious and racial hatred against Jews, Roman Catholics, negroes, and foreign-born American citizens; that your entire scheme is a dangerous public menace that will inevitably lead to bloodshed and if successful must result in revolution; and that, in the interests of decent Americanism, it should be suppressed by the Federal and State authorities.

"I further notify you that I utterly repudiate and refuse to be bound in any way by any and all portions of the 'oath of allegiance' to the 'Invisible Empire' formerly taken by me, excepting that portion pledging allegiance to the Const.i.tution of the United States and of my State, with which portion you have camouflaged the real purport and meaning of the oath. The remainder of the oath conflicts with a higher obligation I have previously a.s.sumed as an officer of the Reserve Corps of the United States Army. I therefore denounce said remaining portions of said oath as illegal, and detrimental to the fundamental principles which underlie the entire legal structure of this country. I further decline, any longer, to keep secret any part or parts of your scheme to establish in free America an 'Invisible Empire' fraudulent in its conception, vicious in its nature, political in its objects, and subject to the will of a self-const.i.tuted 'Emperor' who seeks to exploit the American people for his own personal aggrandizement.

"In defiance of your threats of 'dishonor, disgrace, and death' as contained in your ritual--written and copyrighted by yourself--I denounce your ritualistic work as an insult to all Christian people in America, as an attempt to hypocritically obtain money from the public under the cloak of sanctimonious piety; and, I charge that the princ.i.p.al feature of your ceremony of 'naturalization' into the 'Invisible Empire' is a blasphemous and sacrilegious mockery of the holy rite of baptism, wherein for political and financial purposes, you have polluted with your infamous parody those things that Christians, regardless of creed or dogma, hold most sacred.

"I further charge that when in your printed literature you claim that your organization is the 'genuine original Klan,' this statement is a fraud historically and a fraud in principle. While you have--without any right whatever--appropriated to yourself the name, regalia, and certain nomenclature of the original Klan, your scheme is radically different in conception, in organization, and in purpose. A careful study, which I have made, of the Prescript of the original Klan and all available history and literature on the subject, reveals the fact that there is little, if anything, in common between the two organizations. Your false pretenses of 'genuineness' are therefore insults to the history, the traditions, and the entire record of the South.

"Ever since your scheme has been actively propagated, there has been a wave of crime in the Southern States, consisting to a large extent of 'private regulations' of the public peace, committed by men who have gone about their respective communities wearing disguises and taking into their own hands the functions of prosecuting attorney, witnesses, judge, jury and executioner, in direct contravention to the Bill of Rights of the Federal and State const.i.tutions. Men have been dragged from their beds at night, forcibly abducted on the streets and in their homes, arrested without warrant on the public streets, conveyed to secluded places, there to be flogged, tarred and feathered. In two instances helpless women, after being stripped of their clothing, have been similarly maltreated. In nearly every reported case, the perpetrators of these acts of lawlessness have worn disguises, described as 'masks and white robes,' which description correspond convincingly with the official regalia of the 'Invisible Empire.' In three specific cases, acts of lawlessness have been so openly and flagrantly committed by members of the 'Ku Klux Klan,' that you have been compelled to take official cognizance. In these three instances where responsibility has been fixed, it was very evident that the illegal oath and the secret teachings of your 'Invisible Empire' were construed by your dupes as granting a license to engage in secret regulation of the peace by means of anonymous warnings, threats, intimidations, abduction, the whip, and the use of tar and feathers. Having studied your scheme, both from the inside and the outside, I have no doubt whatever that practically all of these reported outrages were committed by members of your organization. If it were proven, however, that your 'citizens' were not _prima facie_ responsible, at the same time there exists a moral responsibility, because when one group of people is permitted to go about in disguise, it places the community at the mercy of any group which cares to adopt similar tactics.

"Everywhere the promoters of your scheme have gone, they have sought to enlist as 'citizens' the white, Gentile, Protestant public officials, especially those having in charge the enforcement of the law. No matter how capable, how efficient, and how conscientious a public official may be, if he chances to be a Jew or a Catholic, you not only do not want him, but your organization is now planning actively to cause all the Jews, Catholics, and foreign-born naturalized Americans in this country to be removed from public life.

Aside from vicious politics, and in view of the fact that your oath is an accessory before the fact to mob violence, this tampering and meddling with the law-enforcing machinery of the country--under the alleged plea of 'law and order'--is a direct blow at the entire legal machinery of the United States, a condition that, in its nature, approaches anarchy.

"At a time when peaceful relations are existing between the white and black races, you are disrupting the industrial conditions of the South, by your anti-negro propaganda and causing a state of unrest that can result only in dangerous and mischievous consequences. In your anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish propaganda, your organization is scattering broadcast over this country wicked, malicious, and inflammatory lies about American citizens of those religious beliefs, lies that brand your movement as being far more vicious than the insidious German propaganda in this country prior to our entrance into the recent war. You are publishing, for example, the statement that the Jews are seeking to promote a race war between white people and negroes, and the intimation that the Catholic Church was responsible for the murder of President Abraham Lincoln. In public statements, you and your paid speakers give expression to wordy, sanctimonious and high-sounding plat.i.tudes, while secretly your propagandists, in a sneaking and contemptible manner, are spreading poisonous and vicious lies they dare not give voice to in public.

"Your 'Invisible Empire' is furthermore a money-making scheme! You, yourself, an individual of little, if any, means prior to your becoming an 'Emperor' have so far received from 'friends' a $25,000 residence completely furnished! Your connection with the organization is either bringing you large sums of money at present, or the promise of the same in the future! You are allowed to appropriate to your own use all of the ten dollars "donated" by any person whose application you personally solicit! All of the rituals and other printed publications of your organization are copyrighted in your name, and it is presumable that you have either received royalties for their use or a cash consideration for their sale! Your organization has recently bought Lanier University, of which you have been made the head, and college presidents are usually paid salaries! While orders for robes at $6.50 are taken in your name, they are filled by the Gate City Manufacturing Company, at a substantial profit, and the public has not been informed as to the disposition of this huge amount of funds! The Searchlight Publishing Company, headed by your Imperial Kleagle is no doubt a big revenue producer! Your Imperial Kleagle is also the head of the Clarke Realty Company, in whose operations, I have no doubt you are also interested! These varied financial operations indicate to me that spreading religious and racial hatred is a lucrative business for you and your a.s.sociates.

"Your whole 'Invisible Empire' is a cancer in the body politic! It is like some foul and loathsome thing that grows and flourishes in the dark, away from the sight of honest men and women. It was conceived in avarice, sired in ignorance, and dammed in greed. It is now being nurtured in cunning and false pretense, and fed upon an unholy l.u.s.t for gold, by means of pa.s.sion, hatred, and the prejudice of religious and racial fanaticism. And, day by day, with your oily a.s.surance, you say that these devilish devices of discord are being developed in the name of 'pure Americanism'! If this is your idea of America, you haven't the slightest conception of what pure Americanism means!

"There is no place in America for an 'Invisible Empire' of hate and venom; and there is no provision in the laws of this country for an 'Emperor'! The 'Invisible Empire' should be made visible! It should be held up to the light so that honest men can see its ugly structure and a.n.a.lyze its nefarious potentialities, and then, having seen this monstrosity, the people should demand of their legally const.i.tuted forces of government that Ku Kluxism and the Ku Klux Klan be outlawed and barred forever from operating in this free Republic.

Yours truly, HENRY P. FRY."

CHAPTER IV

WHAT IS THE "INVISIBLE EMPIRE?"

A study of the physical structure of the "Invisible Empire" necessarily starts with its corporate organization, its officers, its general method of functioning, and its ramifications throughout the United States.

Although organized under the pretense that it is a "fraternal order," a close investigation of the system reveals the fact that its activities extend in several directions. Its three princ.i.p.al promoters, William J.

Simmons, Edward Young Clarke and Mrs. M. E. Tyler, are engaged in several lines of business all of which are closely related. The show under the main tent is the "Invisible Empire," Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., allied to which either directly or indirectly is the "Gate City Manufacturing Company," a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Georgia for the manufacture of lodge regalia, etc., the Searchlight Publishing Company, which prints a weekly paper which is recognized by the public as the official organ of Ku Kluxism, and Lanier University, which was acquired in August, 1921, and of which William J.

Simmons is the president. There is also the Clarke Realty Company in which E. Y. Clarke and Mrs. M. E. Tyler are mentioned as incorporators, the operations of which corporation are not known.

The charter of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan granted by the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, reads as follows:

"GEORGIA, FULTON COUNTY.

TO THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SAID COUNTY:

The pet.i.tion of W. J. SIMMONS, H. D. SHACKLEFORD, E. R. CLARKSON, J.

B. FROST, W. L. SMITH, R. C. W. RAMSPECK, G. D. COUCH, L. M. JOHNSON, A. G. DALLAS, W. E. FLODING, W. C. BENNETT, J. F. V. SAUL, all of said State and County, respectfully shows:

1. That they desire for themselves, their a.s.sociates and successors to be incorporated in the State of Georgia for the period of twenty years, with the right of renewal; when and as provided by law, as a _patriotic, secret, social, benevolent order_ under the name and style of

'KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN'

2. The purpose and object of said corporation is to be purely benevolent and eleesmosynary, and there shall be no capital stock or profit or gain to the members thereof.

3. The princ.i.p.al office and place of business shall be in Fulton County, Georgia, but pet.i.tioners desire that the corporation shall have the power to issue decrees, edicts and certificates of organization to subordinate branches of the corporation in this or other States of the United States and elsewhere, whenever the same shall be deemed desirable in the conduct of its business.

4. The pet.i.tioners desire that the Society shall have the power to confer an initiative degree ritualism, fraternal and secret obligations, words, grip signs and ceremonies under which there shall be united only white male persons of sound health, good morals and high character; and further desire such rights, powers and privileges as are now extended to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Free and Accepted Masons, Knights of Pythias, _et al._, under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Georgia.

5. Pet.i.tioners desire that there shall be a Supreme Legislative Body in which shall be vested the power to adopt and amend const.i.tutions and by-laws for the regulation of the general purpose and welfare of the order, and of the subordinate branches of same.

6. Pet.i.tioners desire that the 'IMPERIAL KLONVOKATION' (Supreme Legislative Body) shall be composed of the SUPREME OFFICERS AND 'KLOPPERS' (DELEGATES) selected by the 'KLORO' (STATE CONVENTION) of the SEVERAL 'REALMS' (subordinate jurisdiction); and of such other persons as the const.i.tution and by-laws of the Society may provide.

7. Pet.i.tioners desire that the business of the Society shall be under the control of the 'IMPERIAL WIZARD' (PRESIDENT), who shall be amenable in his official administration to the 'IMPERIAL KLONCILIUM'

(Supreme Executive Committee), a majority of whom shall have authority to act, and a two-thirds' majority power to veto the official acts of the 'IMPERIAL WIZARD' (PRESIDENT) in the matters pertaining to the general welfare of the Society; and to contract with other members of the Society for the purpose of promoting and conducting its interests and general welfare, in any way, manner, or method he may deem proper for the Society's progress and stability, subject to the restrictions of the power of the 'IMPERIAL WIZARD'

(PRESIDENT) as is heretofore set forth in this paragraph.

8. Pet.i.tioners desire that they shall have the right to adopt a const.i.tution and by-laws and elect the first KLONCILIUM (Supreme Executive Committee), which shall possess all the powers of the 'IMPERIAL KLONVOKATION' (Supreme Legislative Body) until the first organization and meeting of that body, and shall fix the number, t.i.tle and terms of officers composing said 'KLONCILIUM' (Supreme Legislative Committee).

9. Pet.i.tioners desire the right to own separate unto itself and to control the sale of all paraphernalia, regalia, stationery, jewelry and such other materials needed by the subordinate branches of the order for the proper conduct of their business; the right to publish a fraternal magazine and such other literature as is needed in the conduct of the business of the order; the right to buy, hold and sell real estate and personal property suitable to the purpose of the said corporation; to sell, exchange or sublease the same or any part thereof; to mortgage or create liens thereon; to borrow money and secure the payment thereof by mortgage or deed of trust and to appoint trustees in connection therewith; to execute promissory notes, to have and to use a common seal; to sue and be sued; to plead and be impleaded; to do and perform all these things and exercise all those rights, which under the laws of Georgia, are conferred upon societies or orders of like character.

10. _Wherefore_ pet.i.tioners pray an order incorporating them, their a.s.sociates and successors under the name and style aforesaid with all the powers and privileges necessary to the extension of the order or the conduct of the business and purposes of like nature."

The casual examination of the above instrument fails to show anything more significant than the fact that it is a simple application for a charter for an ordinary fraternal organization, several of whom, including the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, it specifically names. An a.n.a.lysis, however, of the instrument reveals some interesting things, and raises some questions that may be of service to the public in dealing with Ku Kluxism.

In the first place, this charter, which was granted July 1, 1916, confers upon W. J. Simmons and certain a.s.sociates the right to engage in the business of a fraternal society under the name and style of "KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN." As a matter of fact the propagation of the movement goes forward under the name and t.i.tle of "Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc." The use of the words "Invisible Empire" in connection with the authorized and legal t.i.tle of the organization is an _ultra vires_ act without the sanction of the Georgia law under which the society is operating.

The following copy of the application for charter membership ill.u.s.trates this point:

"TO HIS MAJESTY, THE IMPERIAL WIZARD, EMPEROR OF THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE, KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN (INC.):

I, the undersigned, a native-born, true and loyal citizen of the United States of America, being a white Gentile person of temperate habits, sound in mind, and a believer in the tenets of the Christian religion, the maintenance of _white supremacy_, the practice of an honorable clanishness and the principles of "pure Americanism," do voluntarily most respectfully, seriously and unselfishly pet.i.tion you for _citizenship_ in the INVISIBLE EMPIRE, KNIGHTS OF THE KU KLUX KLAN, and be a _charter member_ of a Klan located at .................. State of ..........

I guarantee on my honor to conform strictly to all rules and requirements regulating my "naturalization" and the continuance of my membership, and at all times a strict and loyal obedience to your const.i.tutional authority and the const.i.tution and laws, and all regulations and usages of the fraternity. The required "donation"

accompanies this pet.i.tion.

Signed: ....................................., _Pet.i.tioner_.

Date .................. 192....

Residence Address ............................................

Business Address ............................................

Endorsers will sign on other side.

_Notice_: Check the address to which mail may be sent."

This is the standard form for application for "citizenship" and several hundred such applications, properly signed, have come under my personal observation. It is distinctly a request to be "naturalized" as a "citizen"

of the "Invisible Empire," Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and not an application for membership in an order known as the "Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" by itself.