That afternoon Stover rented his residence which Mrs. Armstrong was to vacate the next day and secured a month's rent in advance. He did not deduct to the new tenant the half month's rent the widow had paid, neither did he give it back to her. He was at a loss to know why within a week from this time two hundred thousand dollars were withdrawn by depositors.
Mrs. Armstrong went directly from the bank to the home of the Reverend Earl Benton.
"Reverend Benton," she said, "I have heard that you are a member of the Ku Klux Klan."
"I am," he replied. "I do not hesitate to let the public know that I am a member of this great organization, as my work for the organization is in the lecture field, but if the membership as a whole would permit their identity to become known it would destroy in a large measure the efficiency of the organization. Nothing would please law violators better than to know the identity of these men who are assisting officers as special detectives."
"What I wanted, Reverend Benton, is to ask you to thank the Wilford Springs Klan for the wonderful present they sent me. Tell them I certainly appreciate it. It came at a time when I was in dire need."
The day following the gift of the two hundred dollars to Mrs. Armstrong, Willard Jackson, who owned a large clothing store and was considered one of the most conservative men in town, met Springer, the editor of the Journal.
"Say, Jackson," said Springer, "wasn't that incident that happened the other night a disgrace to our city?"
"To what affair do you refer?"
"The mobbing of that negro by members of the Ku Klux Klan."
"If the facts were as stated in your paper it was an incident to be regretted, and if the Klan is responsible for it, it is to be condemned."