In the case of Paul and Scott in Beaumont, Tex., an organization claiming to be the Ku Klux Klan admitted under a seal that it was responsible. In many other instances the masked riders have openly boasted that they were Ku Kluxers. In other cases they have worn regalia like that of the Ku Klux. Imperial Wizard Simmons has denied that the Ku Klux is responsible for any outrages. Whether he knows what he is talking about probably will be determined only by a Congressional investigation.
Meanwhile the people of the country have the big fact on which to form their judgment—namely, that since the Ku Klux has extended its membership and influence by influencing hundreds of thousands to get down on their knees and take the oath of "white supremacy," bands of night riders who take the law into their own hands have been carrying on these disgraceful marauding "parties" with a boldness that challenges public attention.
In Daytona, Fla., H.C. Sparkman, an editor, carried on a campaign against the Ku Klux Klan. On June 12, 1921, Sparkman received by mail a threat warning him that if he did not let the Ku Klux alone the Klan would take up his case and that he might be killed. In Pensacola, Fla., on July 8, 1921, a band of men wearing white robes like those of the Ku Klux Klan in their initiation ceremonies appeared at the store of Chris Lochas, a restaurant keeper, and while the chief of police was looking on gave him a written order to leave town because of certain charges. The warning was signed "K.K.K."
KU KLUX KLANSMAN KILLED
In the city of Atlanta, Ga., where the Ku Klux Klan is strongest a killing resulted from a raid by masked men on J.C. Thomas, who had a lunch room at 280-½ Decatur street. Thomas had received letters threatening him with violence unless he "let alone" a certain woman in his employ. On March 12, 1920, four men got Thomas to enter an automobile and drove him to a spot in a lonely neighborhood. There they took him from the car and told him that he was to be punished because he had not observed their warnings. When they started to strike Thomas, he took a knife from his pocket and killed Fred Thompson who was later identified as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The case of killing against Thomas was put before a grand jury but the jury refused to indict him. At the inquest into the death of Thompson, Homer Pitts was identified as the driver of the car in which Thomas had been kidnapped. Pitts was represented in the proceedings by Attorney W.S. Coburn. In the official list of Ku Kluxers there is a H.R. Pitts who is a kleagle at Fresno, Cal., and a W.S. Coburn who is a grand goblin with headquarters at Los Angeles, Cal.
100 OUTRAGES IN TEXAS
Texas, where the Ku Klux Klan is strong, has been the scene of nearly 100 unlawful punishments by masked men. In one case the initials "K.K.K." were branded on the forehead of a negro who was horsewhipped on the charge of having been found in a white woman's room.
Something the same treatment that was given Dr. Paul was handed out to J.S. Allen, an attorney of Houston, Tex., who on April 10, 1921, was whisked from a downtown street, driven to the country and tarred and feathered. The masked men then took him back to the city and threw him out of the automobile into a crowd. He was nude except for his coat of tar and feathers.