The Modern Ku Klux Klan

by Henry P. Fry

“That I will not deal with or employ a Protestant if in my power to deal with or employ a Catholic. That I will place Catholic girls in Protestant families that a weekly report may be made of the inner movements of the heretics.

“That I will provide myself with arms and ammunition that I may be in readiness when the word is passed, or I am commanded to defend the church, either as an individual or with the militia of the Pope.

“All of which, I, ——— ———, do swear by the blessed Trinity and blessed sacrament which I am now to receive to perform and on part to keep this, my oath.

“In testimony hereof, take this most holy and blessed Sacrament of the Eucharest and witness the same further with my name written with the point of this dagger dipped in my own blood and seal in the face of this holy sacrament.” (Excerpts from “Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell against Thos. S. Butler,” as appears in the Congressional Record —— house, Feb. 15, 1913, at pages 3215, etc., and ordered printed therein “by unanimous consent.” Attached thereto and printed (on page 3216) as a part of said report as above.)”

While I was engaged in the work as Kleagle of the “Invisible Empire,” I was given copies of this “oath” by four travelling men who had previously identified themselves to me as Klansmen, and was informed that it had been and was being widely circulated, not only in their home towns, but all through the South by workers in the Ku Klux cause. I had not previously seen this oath, and without investigating its authenticity permitted it to be reprinted and circulated in my territory, although the men who became members of the Klan under me did not attach any genuineness to the document. There was, therefore, but comparatively little use made of it in my territory, but I learned that in Knoxville and Chattanooga it was freely and industriously circulated. Among the ignorant classes of people, I learned, the oath was accepted as genuine, and was the means of securing a large number of members for Ku Kluxism. In Chattanooga, in May, 1921, the convention of the Southern Baptists was held, and as a great many speeches were made against Romanism, the public mind was in a very responsive mood to accept the alleged oath as the real obligation of the Knights of Columbus. I made inquiry of my King Kleagle as to whether or not the Atlanta people were printing and distributing the “oath.”

In a letter written to me from Chattanooga, dated May 25, 1921, the King Kleagle, said:

“The Imperial Palace does not get out copies of the K. C. oath but I find it of value among a certain few.

“I find papers like the Protestant that I suggested your subscribing for to be the most valuable dope that I can use for it brings home in a concrete form to them the things we have to guard against.”

Having been, in a limited way, a party to the distribution of this oath, I feel that it is my duty to print the result of my investigations as to its nature and also to give in full the real obligation of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus which was made public in the summer of 1921. It appears from my investigations that several times the authenticity of the “oath” has been brought into the courts by the Knights of Columbus, and each time it has been proven to be a fraud. An instance occurred, however, that is so strongly convincing that every American who believes in fair play, especially every Mason in the country, should know about it. In Los Angeles, California, in 1914, the State Deputy of the Knights of Columbus submitted the entire work, ceremonies and pledges of his order to a committee of Masons made up of Messrs. Motley Hewes Flint, thirty-third degree, Past Grand Master of California, Dana Reid Weller, Past Grand Master, William Rhodes Hewey, Past Master, and Samuel E. Burke, Inspector of the Los Angeles Masonic District. These gentlemen made a careful examination of the entire subject, and rendered the following report:

“We hereby certify that by authority of the highest officer of the Knights of Columbus in the State of California, who acted under instructions from the Supreme Officer of the Order in the United States, we were furnished a complete copy of all the work, ceremonies and pledges used by the Order, and that we carefully read, discussed and examined the same. We found that while in a sense the Order is a secret association, it is not an oath-bound organization and that its ceremonies are comprised in four degrees, which are intended to teach and inculcate principles that lie at the foundation of every great religion and every free state. Our examination of these ceremonials and obligations was made primarily for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not a certain alleged oath of the Knights of Columbus, which has been printed and widely circulated, was in fact used by the Order and whether if it was not used, any oath, obligation or pledge was used which was or would be offensive to Protestants or Masons, or those who are engaged in circulating a document of peculiar viciousness and wickedness. We find that neither the alleged oath nor any oath or pledge bearing the remotest resemblance thereto in matter, manner, spirit or purpose is used or forms a part of the ceremonies of any degree of the Knights Of Columbus. The alleged oath is scurrilous, wicked and libelous and must be the invention of an impious and venomous mind. We find that the Order of Knights of Columbus, as shown by its rituals, is dedicated to the Catholic religion, charity and patriotism. There is no propaganda proposed or taught against Protestants or Masons or persons not of Catholic faith. Indeed, Protestants and Masons are not referred to directly or indirectly in the ceremonials and pledges. The ceremonial of the Order teaches a high and noble patriotism, instills a love of country, inculcates a reverence for law and order, urges the conscientious and unselfish performance of civic duty, and holds up the Constitution of our country as the richest and most precious possession of a Knight of the Order. We can find nothing in the entire ceremonial of the Order that to our minds could be objected to by any person.”