Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 1 December 1922 — Page 1

THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER IN DELAWARE COUNTY THE MUNCIE POST-DEMOCRAT

VOL. 2, NUMBER 43 MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1922 SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE

Ku KIux as Virulent as Old A. P. A.; Libel is Used by it Often

New Organization More Secretive Than Old and Seeks to Veil Sources of Its Material With Anonymity

SEARCHLIGHT CHARGES 62 PER CENT OF U. S. OFFICIALS ARE CATHOLICS

The Ku Klux Kl'an, its “Emperor’ announces, “wages war on no individual or organization regardless of race, color or creed; takes no part as an organization in any political dr religious controversy, and concedes the right of every man to think, vote and worship God as he pleases.” Says the Dayton News of Sept. 17,

1921.

It is hard to reconcile this profession of tolerance with the propaganda of hatred employed by his sales crews, and so well exemplified in the case of the bogus Fourth Degree Oath of the Knights of Columbus to which yesterday’s article of this exposure was devoted. Further irreconcilable contrasts between the “imperial” declaration and the arguments used by the less exalted propagators, or ac.ierents of the order, are abundant. In fomenting Tor its own purposes friction between Catholics and Protestants in tbe United States, Ku Kluxism, Inc, is as virulent as the' old A. P. A. ever was. and not perceptibi .• more

scrupulous.

t The main point of difference lies in the more secretive methods adopted by Ku Klux. The A. P, A. at least came out in the bpen and identified itself with tHe calumnies ft spread. Whereas Ku Kluxism carefully buries the wires that connect it with a whole

Exposure Shows How Cards Teeming With Untrue Statements Are Used by Kleagles and Goblins to Arouse Prejudice

the Searchlight, published in Atlanta, makes it obvious that one journal has

escaped Papal domination.

Tbe Searchlight ted ms With attacks On Catholics and their church of which samples must now be given to show the standards of fair play and accuracy set up by its editors. On the second page of the issue of the Searchlight for February 26, 1921, is printed a three-quarter col-

umn article under the heading:

“Facts Gathered by the. Knights of Luther from the Washington Bu-

reau of Statistics.

“Friends, Patriots, Protestants and Americans, are not the following facts sufficient to arouse to action every one who truly loves his country? If we are the kind of Americans we should be we should not and will not allow such facts to be continued or repeated without a fearless, desperate, red-hot contest until the day we are put beneath the sod. Will you kindly consider the following na-

tional statistics?”

A catalogue of fifteen “facts” is then represent, as follows: “The National Democratic committee is by majority a Roman Catholic body. It usually has a Roman Catholic presujgnt jand. secretary. “Catholics influenced the national Campaign which elected Wilson. “The president’s private secretary

series of anonymous attacks on Cath- is a Roman Catholic.

olicism and its practitioners Last April a Kleagle working in &. Southern State made requisition through his King Kleagle, on a reglilaidy provided blank, for an assort* ment of propagation supplies. In due time the supplies thus Ordered reached him in an express package bearing the label of the Gate City Manufacturing company of Atlanta, which produces practically all Ku

Klux suppliesestao

Klux supplies, including the regalia. And inclosed in the bundle was a package of 500 of these “Do You Know?” cards. The reader can be his own detective in deckling what were the source and object of them. The Pope controls the daily, and magazine press of America, asserts the “Do You Know?” card, to which broad statement one exception at lOast must immediately be taken in the interests of accuracy and fairness. A glance at the weekly newspaper,

‘Over 70 per cent of all appointments made bv President Wilson are Catholics. r JJheir influence is so powerful it compels the homage of

those in authority.

“Five states now have Catholic ad-

ministration.

“Thirty-one states have Roman Catholic Democratic central commit-

tees.

“Twenty thousand public schools have one-half Catholic teachers. “Over 100,000 public jsljhools abe largely taught by Catholic teachers. “Three thousand public schools now contribute a part or all of the school tax to Catholic churches and schools. “Six hundred public schools use Catholic readers and teach fr«m them the Roman Catholic catechism. “Sixty-two per cent of all offices 6f the United States, both elective and appointive, are now held by Roman Catholics. “New York, Chicago, Baltimore,

Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland, Toledo, St. Louis Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston now have 75 per cent Catholic teachers in their public schools. “In all the cities and towns of the United States of Id,000 or more inhabitants an average of over 90 p,er cent of the police force are Roman Catholics. “Roman Catholics are in the majority of the city council of 10,000 cities and towns of the United

States.”

“Having marshaled this array of ‘statistics’, not one single group oU which could be verified from any of the population classifications prepared in the United States Bureau of Census, which are the sole compre-

hensive and authoritative switches • of prisoners

off abruptly to run down a line cf ’

“facts.”

“We will now.” it says, “look at the results of Catholic teaching on vice and virtue. The history of assassins of heads of governments in the past is a history of murderous Roman Catholics. In 90 per cent of the cases where criminals are executed for crimes committed, the victims of the execution have a priest at their elbow to administer the last sacrament. “The man who shot Roosevelt was a Roman Catholic. “The man who shot President McKinley was Roman Catholic. “The man who shot President Carfield was a Roman Catholic. “The man who shot President Lincoln was a Roman Catholic. “The plot that took the life of Lincoln emanated from Roman Cath-

olic influence ii* the house of a Ro-

man Catholic.

“Abraham Lincoln said, “I do not pretend to be a prophet but, though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our horizon, and that cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears and blood. The true motive power is secreted behind the walls of the Vatican, the colleges an.l schools of the Jesnas, i.he convents of the nuns an.l th- confessional boxes of Rome, and such opinions

cost the nation his fife.’

“The assassins of Mayor Harrison of Chicago and Mayor Qaynor |of New Y’ork were Roman Catholics. “The Clhicagfo carn-barn bandits, the McNamara; brothers and those connected with them, who destroyed the Time-Newsi, publication building at Los Angeles, the bridge dynamiters cf the United States and the bomb throwers of Chicago, so far as their identity is known are Roman Catho-

lics.

“Over 65 per ; cent of prison convicts of all grades and of all kinds

Roman Catholics,

While less than *5 per cent are graduates of our public schools. “These statements are astounding when we remember that only about 12% per cent of the entire population of the United States are Roman Catholics, while the other 87% per

cent are not.”

The article closes with this credit

line:

•'From ‘Washington Bureau cf Statistics.’ ” Issue afe^r issue of The Searchlight reveals similar staff in limitless quantities. The number of February 12, 1921, prints a two and onehalf column letter from Capt. -I. P. Marchant of Columbus, Ga., which starts as fellows: “Columbyis has always been ruled by the . twin evils, Rome and Rum. Ever since I can remember Rome Continued on Page Two

“OF ALL SAD WORDS” Judge Dearth sent a fourteen year old boy to the P 1 a i n fi eld reformatory Wednesday. The boy was incorrigible and the Star shed copious tears in telling the sad sob story about the way the judge pleaded for days with the little fellow to reform and do better. According to the Star the Star the judge pleaded with the boy to avoid improper associates, to attend school, quit smoking cigarets, go to Sunday school regularly and to church at least once a month. The boy did not take the judge’s advice and now he is in Plainfield. If he had listened and heeded the advice he might have grown up to be a one hundred per cent American and a Ku Klux klansman in good standing. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.

Andrew Jackson Takes Office as County Commissioner, Both Republican Crowds Claim Him

PEER SAVES LOVERS’ LANE Chaldon, Eng.—Lord Hylton has won in his flight to prevent the city authorities closing Lovers’ Lane, which runs through his property.

Scarborough, Eng.—Awakened by the meowing of their cat, Mr. and Mrs. James Fairley found their house on fire.

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They Are Trying to Back Dp It is said that the republican county officials who were elected last month because of their Ku Klux affiliations, are now anxious to forget, and have the people forget, the abominable alliance they made with a lawless, treasonable organization purely for the sake of getting and holding office. These opportunists are now sending out the word that the Ku Klux is a thing of the past and that they, as candidates, had no real sympathy with the organization to which they belonged. The Post-Democrat, for one, does not intend to let the people forget. Some newspapers have the habit of puttingup a great fight befoire election, and then allowing themselves to be votecl into submission and acquiescence. The editor of the Post-Democrat is not built that way. If a thing is wrong before election it is wrong after election, no matter which side wins. The Ku Klux klan is utterly wrong and no man can be a good citizen and a loyal American who takes the Ku Klux oath with a full Understanding of what the oath means. The people of Delaware county did what the Post-Dem-ocrat warned them against—elected a judge, sheriff and prosecutor who belong to the Ku Klux klan, an organization which owes its first allegiance to a drunken blatherskite in Atlanta, Georgia, who dubs himself “Colonel” Simmons. No judge, prosecutor, sheriff, mayor or police officer can take the klansmen’s oath, andj remain true to that oath, without utterly destroying his usefulness as a public official. As long as he acknowledges fealty to an “invisible empire” he is a dangerous menace to the community he is supposed to serve. ■ . * . ' , We do not blame these officers for privately putting out the Word they are not in sympathy with Ku Kluxism, Inc. Private assurances, however, will not get them anywhere. If the judge, prosecutor and sheriff will publicly renounce their membership in this order and help destroy it and punish the criminals who organized it here, then the people will know they mean what they say and the Post-Democrat will co-operate with them to the limit. In the meantime the Post-Democrat is against everything, political or otherwise, that is tainted with Ku Klux putrescence, and will remain on the job until it is driven out ; of the community.

Sheriff Charged With Brutality On the suspicion that Orville Hurst, a prisoner in the county jail, had mischeviously thrown a tin plate while the Tuesday evening meal was being served, Sheriff Harry Hoffman brutally kicked the youth in the face, inflicting serious wounds. Over the objections of jail attendants, Mrs. Sanford Hurst, mother of the youth, had three physicians summoned, Drs. U. G. Poland, Herman Bowles and J. M. Silvers, Who treated the injuries. The brutal kick had torn the flesh of the lower .jaw, exposing the bone and the lower lip was cut completely through. The yo ung man stated that he was seated on the floor when the sheriff kicked him. The back of his head struck the iron bars behind him, causing an ugly bump. What adds to the wanton brutality of the attack is the fact that the young man is an invalid. For two years he has been a victim of periodic nervous convulsions and it is said that he suffered an attack of this kind shortly before the sheriff kicked him. He told his mother and one of the physicians that he was sitting down when the sheriff rushed in, like a mad-man, demanding to know who had thrown the till pan. Selecting young Hurst as his victim, the enraged officer ran up to him and kicked him in the face, according to the story he told the physicians. Wednesday morning the young man was taken by two deputies to Jeffersonville, where he had been sentenced for a period of from one to eight years for taking an automobile. He was takep on the first car, at 4:30, and the sheriff was at the terminal station to personally witness the departure. Mrs. Hurst was also there to bid her son goodbye. Knowing that Mrs. Hurst had been demanding that something be done on account of the outrage, Sheriff Hoffman approched her, according to her statement, and said: “Now, Mrs. Hurst, if I was you Fd keep still and just make the best of this. It won’t do you or the boy any good if you try to stir up a muss. Orville was sent up for one to eight years and it is up to me to say how long he shall stay in prison. If I want to I can keep him in there for the entire ,eight years, or I can get him out in less than a year if I want to.” This, in substance, is what Sheriff Hoff man said to Mrs. Hurst, according to a statement made by her Wednesday to a representative of the Post-Democrat. Mrs. Hurst stated that she appealed Wednesday both to Judge Dearth and Prosecu-tor-Elect Van Ogle, asking that justice be done. Judge Dearth declared himself to be profoundly shocked and grieved that such a thing should have happened, she said, and Deputy Prosecutor Ogle advised her to refrain, at present, from asking him to bring a criminal action against the sheriff. A younger son accompanied Mrs. Hurst to the jail Tuesday night and he stated to his mother, after leaving the jail, that he thought Sheriff Hoffman must be drunk, because he smelled liquor on his breath. . ' • The Post-Democrat is presenting these facts just as they were related by witnesses. The sheriff did not deny that he kicked the young man. The bruised, battered and mangled face of the invalid youth told its own story. Are the good people of Delaware county going to stand for any more of this? The Post-Democrat has in times past related other instances of Sheriff Hoffman’s brutal treatmefit of prisoners. This latest is the crowning outrage. The Post-Democrat is the only newspaper in Delaware county that dares to take the people in its confidence and expose things of this kind, and that is the reason its enemies hate and fear it. Mr. Hoffman and other officials of Muncie and Delaware county who has betrayed their trust and have'had their records made public by the Post-Democrat, seem to feel that this paper is actuated by personal malice when it exposes such matters as the sheriff’s latest exhibition, but nothing is further from the truth. What we believe is that the people are entitled to know what is going on and all the masks, blackjacks, six shooters and bench warrants in existence are not going to deter us from telling the truth. It pays to be honest and decent in office and no crooked or incompetent official ever got very far fighting a newspaper that is truthful and on the square. 'Many have tried, but all have failed. If Harry Hoffman has any defense to offer for brutally assaulting and maiming helpless prisoners, let him come to the front and make it. Unless he can show that he, as an officer, had a right to kick an invalid prisoner in the face, on the mere suspicion that he had playfully thrown a tin pan, the people should demand his removal from office, and see to it that the demand is not ignored.

Andrew Jackson, republican, elected to serve as county commissioner for a three year term, beginning Jan. 1, 1924, is now sitting as a member of that body, and lawyers in Muncie are divided as to whether or not he can legally serve on the board before the actual beginning of his term. Jackson takes the place of Clarence Retherford, who was appointed to fill out the unsxpired term of his father, the late Jq’.in Retllprford. Retherford d : d not resign, but it was held by his advisers that his incumbency automatically expired when Jackson was elected and qualified. Some lawyers contend, however, that Jackson cannot legally serve as commissioner until one. year from January first and that Retherford is still county commissioner and has the right to remain on the board for the full time for which his late father was elected. There are some who are inclined to believe that the latest move in republican administrative circles may mean more than appears on the surface. It is known that ever since the primary Jackson has been claimed by both the progressives and the standpatters, but those who have studied the situation carefully are inclined to think that when Jackson [shows his hand it will be discovered that Billy Williams is still the man behind the gun. Commissioner-Elect MeCreery; who Takes oifice January 1, is .openly; against the Williams crowd. . They fought him bitterly m the. primary and he licked them hands down. On the other hand the Williams gang at the lltst minute threw the harpoon into Albert O’Hara, and throwing their support to Jackson, he was nominated, and later elected. On taking offiefe the fifist thing done bv Judge Dearth was to appoint Mr. O’Hara Court Bailiff, thus healing the wound inflicted in the primarj. and proving to all and sundry that Judge Dearth really does mean to be a big brother to the oppressed and desoitefully used. Jonas Shoemaker retires from office the first of January after serving six years as county commissioner. It is known, however, that Jonas is not ready just yet to cut himself loose from the county payroll. When the commissioners canned Sorter Ross, county road superintendent, several months ago, Jonas entered into a conspiracy with Billy Williams, Commissioner, Shroyer and

other machine republicans, to resign from office at that time and grab off the job of county road superintendent himself. Commissioner Retherford knocked the deal in the head, but Shoemaker, it is said, still has designs on the job and his friends are openly boasting that Commissioners Shroyer and Jackson will put the deal through and hand Jonas the Job in January. The pi’ogressive republicans in Delaware county outnumber the Standpat group nearly two to one. It now remains to be seen whether or not their proud boast that the board of county commissioners has at last been wrested from the hands of Billy Williams and his graball gang, is well founded or not. The commissioners have a number of appointments to make in January. Both sides will present candidates. Both sides claim Andrew Jackson. Andrew may not know it, but when he prematurely assumed office, the buck was passed to him about right. Within a few short weeks he will have to declare himself one way or another, either for the Billy Williams gang or for the progressive group. We can see Trouble and distraction of mind ahead ,for Andrew Jackson. Holding the balance of power between the two hostile groups, he is going to be. heartily cussed by one side or another after he shows his colors.

PRICE OF RADIUM DROPS

From $1'20,O0O a Gram to $70,000— —Western Plant Closed

Denver, November 30—Radiunr has dropped $50,000 a gram in price, and n standard chemical company has been forced to' close its carnotite properties in Paradox Valley, in Western Montrose County,' Colorado, throwing 250 men out of work, according to an announcement by company officials today. Discovery of Vast deposits of pitch-blende in the Belgian Congo is said to be responsible for the drop in price of radium, which is said to sell for $70,000 a grain now, compared with'$120,000 a grain formerly. LEGLESS LUCK Cairo, ill.*—Barry Frow, an pxsoldier who lost both legs in the war, was thrown clear of an automobile accident which killed two companions, , , . ' ‘

PROMOTED, B’GOSHi! The editor of the Post-Democrat was promoted this week from the court of Chief Justice Lansing Coons to the jurisdiction of Judge Clarence Dearth. Apprehended in the felonious act of following the advice of the chief of police by going armed to prevent a repetition of the murderous assault of a cowardly band of midnight assassins, we were placed under bond to appear in the court of the city judge. Counsel for the defendant asked, and was granted, a ahange of judge. Wednesday much to his surprise, the defendant was arrested a second time on a bench warrant from the circuit court, being informed that the case had been transferred from the city court to the higher jurisdiction. " ■ £ We were required to give another bond immediatdy* Either that or go to jail. This clever, and sportsmanlike move was made without any notice from the city court, either to the defendant or his attorney, that such an action was contemplated. We are now bonded up to the two per cent limit, bottled in bond, so to speak, in two courts. We wish to assure our friends, however, that these unsolicited honors, showered with such a lavish hand upon-one so unworthy, have not rendered us unduly proud or caused us to forget or ignore the good people' of Muncie with whom we were wont; to mingle in the days before these dazzling decrees of greatness were conferred by their mightinesses, the vassals of the unseen empire. It is a distinct pleasure for the Post-Democrat to be able to confirm, thus early, its pre-election predictions. In its secret councils the moving criminal spirits of the Ku Klux klan declared that it would “get” Dale and now the stage is get. The arrest was made by a Ku Klux sheriff, the case filed with one Ku Klux judge who transferred it to the jurisdiction of another Ku Klux judge and the state is represented by a Ku Klux prosecutor. ; In conclusion we arise to remark to the low down, grafting, good for nothing and wholly criminal Ku Klux outfit and its servelings in office,, including Sheriff Harry Hoffman, who handled the money that was used to buy votes for Judge Lance Coons in the city primary, that they are all going to have a hell roaring lively time “getting” the Post-Democrat.

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