Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 June 1924 — Page 1
THE
THE OgY^EMOCRATIC NEW^P^ EL^ff ACO^NT^ ^ ^
VOLUME 4—Number 21.
MUNCIE. INDIANA, FRIDAY, JUNE 20,1924.
TEN CENTS A COPY—$3.00 A .YEAR
ONE SET OF THIEVES SUING ANOTHER BUNCH
female Klux Organizer Kisses Klan Goodbye and Scoots West With the Bank Roll—People of Newark Are Wondering Why State Board of Accounting Has Not Reported On Examinaof Municipal Books. Newark, 0., June20.—Shinn has skipped! The word passed through the kluxers like a dose of salts. Windy seems worried that his chief fire fly has flown. Mrs. Foote of Indianapolis, is here and has put a bug in the women. The missing papers are still a mystery. I don’t think so. After spending all night going into detail they were finally located. The beauteous Mrs. Shinn is now a fugitive from justice, pursued by the helions of the law, having swiped the klan funds and departed for the golden west. Not content with taking the mere bank roll she is said to have paid herself $250 advance salary for traveling expenses. Frank G. Thomson, of Toledo, state representative of the klan, came to Newark to start the prosecution against the fair deceiver._ He is hot on her trail and hopes to get the money back. It is not known who is watching Thomson, and who is watching the ones who are watching Thomson, but since all klan leaders distrust each other, it is safe to say that Ihe espionage circle is complete. The affidavits for the arrest of the Shinn person is in the hands of Chief of Police Swank. It is generally supposed that the missing records are planted some place in Newark and klansmen are wondering why Kluxer Swank does not dig them up. Well, Win<jy, want to get Shinnie? All right, wire Hiram, the Big Grafter at Atlanta, as she has flown under one of his wings and is still spilling the beans. Your life in the klan seems short, Windy, and your kradle is sure rocking.
THE DIGEST. The Khaughtyy Knig-Mie Klutkm.
A. C. GRANDY—“No Good.” FLETCHER SCOTT—Keeps Katching Kale. A. M. ALLISON—Office Boy, Pure Oil Co. WM. LAUGHERY—100% Nuts. LONG “BILL” ALLEN—Takes his baths in a fountain pen. I. G. HOBBS—Hired and fired, B. and O. CLEM COMPTON—Simp, B. and O. Y. I. SUTLEY—For a drink. REID PENICK—Central Ave. S. C. WILEY—If you want to know anything—? A. H. MARPLE—N. 4th St., Nuff Sed. J. A. MEHR—I put the handle on Windy? Young Marple thinks he’s Pinkerton, the detective and hounds the married men for the women.
i I
Ohio Cities In Klan Net
WHO GOT THE DOUGH? An examiner from the State bureau of accounting- dropped into town a week or so ago. He made a perfunctory examination of the city’s affairs, but so far no statement has been given out by the officials. Why this reticence? Heretofore officials have been very glad to give out news of the Examination of their hooks, but possibly that is because they were always commended. It is stated that the examiners found that when the Stevens administration took charge they found $107,-
000 in round figures in the treasury, but now they can account for only $103,000 1 What became of this $4,000? Does guilty knowledge of its whereabouts account for Stevens and Taylor “burying the axe?” Somebody knows where this money is. If my readers will be patient a short while longer 1 will imitate Jim Fitzsimmons and “spill the beans.” While on the subject of money, what became of that $1,500 handed to
(Continued to Page Three)
STEPHENSON QUITS AS EAN MEMBER
Charges More to Goodric 11 .
Stephenson infers tha|t the pro-
Ex-Grand Dragon Declares: Imperial Wizard’s Edict to I
GOP Prompted Action. l Watson Statement, which declared the
| Klan would not take any responsi-
Indianapolis, June 19.—D. C. Stev-| bilit y for th e defeat of the Republienson, ex-grand dragon of the Ku ■ can na tional ticket this fall if Wat
Klux Klan, in a statement issued yesterday announced his resignation from the secret organization, but declared “I shall retain my position with the honorable men of the North, but no more ‘kluxing’ under the Georgia banner of William Gibbs
McAdoo.”
In the statement Stephenson refers to the alleged Imperial Wizard Evans’ declaration issued at Cleveland during the Republican national convention calling for the nomination of Senator James E. Watson for vice-
president.
Stephenson Ignores the subsequent
statement Evans made at Cleveland her unless the national Republican denying the pro-Watson proclama- convention obeyed his silly and childtion put out ovei nls name, Evans ( like mandate, has left no course for told the Associated Press that Milton honest men to pursue except to whole
son was not nominated for vice-pres-ident, was pushed by Janies P. Goodrich, ex-governor, for the purpose of defeating Watson. The statement is as follows: “I have just mailed my resignation from the membership in the Ku Klux Klan to the people who made Sherman say naughty words about Geor-
gia and war.
“While I have always tried to maintain an independent political position the recent edict of the imperial wizard issued at Cleveland wherein ‘his lordship threatened’ the defeat of the Republican ticket in Novem-
Elrod, in charge of Klan publicity at the national convention, issued the statement-
l
heartedly and unconditionally support the Republican ticket in Novem-
(Continued to Page Two
The editor of the Post-Democrat spent several days last week in central and Eastern Ohio. Indiana has had its stomach full of the klan but Ohio is a more thoroughly kluxed state than Indiana, if our observations
were correct.
The klan did not start in Ohio until after it had reached fever heat in the Hoosier state, so, while the idiocy is abating here, the thing has just about reached its climax in the neighboring state. Youngstown and Akron, large cities in the northeastern part of the state were captured by the klan last year in the municipal
elections.
In the central part Newark, Marion, Mansfield, Lancaster, Zanesville, Coshoctomand many other towms and cities have been
caught in the mesh of the invisible empire.
Columbus, the capital of the state, which ought to know better, is cursed by many klan officials One man in Columbus told the Post-Democrat that the mayor of the city favored the klan and that two-thirds of the entire th ree hundred members of the
police department belonged.
It was at Columbus that Clarence Benadum, of Muncie, now a deserter from the klan and one of the promoters of a new tendollar grabbing outfit, helped organize the state, taking with him a job lot of Muncie “organizers” who got their training here un-
der the celebrated “Two Gun Bill” Cahill.
The klan showed its power in Columbus several months ago by stepping to the front for D. C. Stephenson, Indiana’s “Old
Man,” when he got in jail on a liquor charge.
Stephenson and two klan comp mions got drunk and mussed things up in the Deshler hotel, which is the largest and finest in Columbus and were locked up. Th c Columbus newspapers played the story up the next day, leavir g out several salient features which will be touched upon later hj he Post-Democrat. Off the day loilowrffgTIib arrestpfccdrding to infonnation'Teceived at Columbus, W. H. N. Stevens, the mayor of Newark, arrived on the ground, presumably supplied with plenty of klan
funds.
Stephenson and his drunken pals were turned loose without trial, the entire matter was hushed up and there was never a line about the affair published in any Columbus newspaper. The average citizen of the state of Ohio seems to be heartily tired of klan control in municipal affairs. The elections last year washed into power a nondescript bunch of incompetents who had nothing to recommend them but the fact that they had paid ten dollars each for a certificate of Americanism. Marion, Ohio, the home of the late President Harding, is so completely dominated by the klan and the word was even sent out that the dead president was a member, a statement which no rational person believes. The mayor of the city is a preacherklansman, and everybody knows the type of preacher that falls for an organization that looks to such men as D. C. Stephenson, E. Y. Clarke and men of that type, for their inspiration. The Post-Democrat is now making extensive preoarations to extend its circulation not only in Indiana, but in manv Ohio cities. The local newspapers in practically every community of both states handle the klan situation with gloves. It will be the province of the Post-Democrat to tell the real truth about con-
ditions.
Next year, those who are opposed to the klan and its political program, will make a determined effort to redeem Indiana and Ohio from the orgy of misgovernment which has marked klan control of municipal affairs. City elections will he held in both states next year and the indications are that the klan is rapidly nearing the end of its political string.
—-r-
_ " j
7 he Bemenderfer Outiit Charged by 7he Old Klan The klan situation in Muncie has finally become a
roaring farce.
Klansmen and klanswomen of various brands are kept too busy in Muncie nowadays fighting each other that the Catholics and the Jews and the Negroes have been for-
gotten.
The latest controversy is in the nature of a lawsuit
brought last Friday by Muncie Klan No. 4, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, against the officers of the Independent Klan of America, charging these patriots with swiping
the entire klan bankroll, amounting to $6,350. The defendants named are the officers of the new
klan. Attorney Tom Miller, representing the plaintiff corporation, in connection with an out-of-town klan lawyer, says the titles of the various defendants were so darned “complicated” that he left them out of the complaint,
for lack of space.
Sergeant Finney, for instance, who is named as one of the defendants, bore a title of such awful import that Tom thought he must at least have been promoted from sergeant to major general, but when the blasted thing was decided it turned out that the new klan had used most of the letters in the alphabet to describe the janitor. The defendants, alleged in the complaint to be the officers of the, Bemenderferites are as follows: James Hildebrand, J. Walter Gibson, Orion Norcross, Sam Bemenderfer, W. A. McClellan, ^Prank James, Eugene Everett, Earl Huffman, Oscar Gage, Frank Parrott, Tom Williams, Ray Kitterman and Joseph Finney. o This is the second suit brought I came official hair kutter at the within two weeks in which the old ! orphans’ home after Dearth became klan seeks to recover its alleged be- judge and increased the price of cut-
-Hi-ffSlgtfe HnV ♦h*' ha’i’ from twenty
ters. The first suit was in the nature , five to fifty cents.
of a replevin action to recover a flock j Tom Williams runs a hundred per of second hand night gowns, three j cent feed gtore on Norlh High street fiery crosses, one bed and Sergeant ■ , , „ ,
^ „ ,, i and Frank Parrott is publisher of the
Finneys second best pair of overalls.! . , „ ^ ^ . ... Eaton Enterprise, and editor in chief Doth suits were filed in the circuit | of the Indepeildent Klansmau, the court. Judge Clarence Dearth, before; . „ , ™ , , , t . ; national organ of the Bemender-
whom the suit is brought, is a mem- . , .
. „ , , , . . 1 ferites. boasting of a circulation of
ber of the new klan, but was not j
, _ _ . , ,. . i one hundred and sixty two. made a defendant as there is no rec- 1 , , .
ord that he holds an office in that in-
spiring group. It is stated that the old klan will ask for a change of venue out of the county. W. A. McClellan, one of the defendants, denies that he is a member. He says he was employed by the new klan to do some legal wojjk, for which
he was never paid. J. Walter Again
J. Walter Gibson is the head galumphus of the defendant outfit. Orion Norcross was the head grafter of the
James Hildebrand is the treasurer of the outiit. When Muncie was dry he was connected with a blind tiger j drug store operated by Charley Benai dum on South Walnut street. There is no record of Rev. Walter Gibson ever running a blind tiger, or doing anything else of importance, for that
matter.
Out For New Members. The Post-Democrat has in its possession a letter sent out by .Parson Gibson to selected members of the
new klan, urging them to take part
old klan, but deserted after he found i . , . , , . , . mu i . ’ I in a big membership drive. The letthat he had been tied up with a crim-1 . , . , . ... ,, , , .
j ter, which is quite lengthv starts out
inal organization. He wanted to get i ... „„ „ T ., * ,, j 6 6 | with Dear Fellow Klansman, and
winds up with the heart throb, “Yours for a true klan of true Americans, J.
Walter Gibson, president.”
“Muncie is indeed fortunate ip being* 1 headquarters for the wonderful movement,” was the opening burble
into a new one that kept all the
money at home.
Sam Bemenderfer is the supreme head of the entire organization, consisting of nearly three hundred lost souls. Keeping the money at home
means giving it to Sam.
Frank James is the barber who be- (
(Continued to Page Two)
j SEEKS RECEIVER FOR THE KU KLUX KLAN |
Klan Gang Pulls Old lime Stuff at Greenville, Ohio
J with instructions for the latter to
Ti a a TYJl’j. J TV T'' A TZ t 1 make their own laws' and their own
Post-Democrat Editor and a Pie-Faced Kluck- tramc regulations.
Yes,- No Mayor.
klam ^here it belongs, in the same class with bootleggers and hop heads. ; Early in the evening the klan took | possession of the city, and idiots in [ dirty sheets, with flashlights in their i hands, were stationed 1 at street inter-
| sections to direct traffic.
There were no city policemen in 1 sight and apparently the city officials bad turned the city over to the klan,
er Have Argument Over The
Old Hat Trick.
stripes through the infamy of a
Ku I the
l
Picking one man out of a crowd whose face indicated an intelligence forei;*i to the Koo Koo map, I asked
1 1 " ■ 1 ■ — ■ the name of the mayor of a city who Klux parade. would permit such a lawless exhibi-
Driving through from the East Ktion.
happened to be marooned in Green- j “I don’t want to give you a short ville over night, through an accident answer, stranger,” was the reply, “but to my car, and was a disgusted wit- we haven’t got any mayor.” ness of the evening mummery, which The parade , was one of the largest reminded me strangely of the didoes klan demonstrations I have seen, but that used to be pulled off in Muncie, as -usual the bulk of the boobs came
other localities.' Delegations
Saturday was flag desecration »day
in Greenville, Ohio.
Taking advantage of the day set apart for all true Americans to honor Old Glory, a gang of masked raiders from Eastern Indiana and various points in Ohio, took possession of
Greenville and disgraced the colors of _ 7 our country by dragging the stars and j but which have happily ceased since from
people of Muncie have put the
(Continued to Page Four.)
Treasurer of Rival Order Charges Charter Violated —Says Big Shm Divided. Muncie, Ind., June 20.—Receiver- | ship for the Knights of the Ku Klux ' Klan is asked in a suit filed in Circuit court here yesterday by James F. Hildebrand, Muncie insurance agent, who alleges the organization, is violating the provisions of its Indiana charter, Wthich seta out that the organizatioh is not for profit. Hildebrand alleges that the Ku Klux Klan 'is insolvent and owes $6,000,000. ' Hildebrand, .,who is now national treasurer of‘tne Independent Klan of America, the organization formed here recently by chapters seceding from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, says he is filing the suit in behalf of 1,500 former Ku Klux KianSmea. Hildebrand charges in' the suit that the Klaffis money is bein,^ divided among officers “according to'the will and discretion and desires of the former Texas dentist, Hiram W. Evans, now his lordship in the defendant or-
ganization.”
Members Pay Big Sum. It is alleged in the complaint that more than $5,000,000 was paid into the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan treasury by Indiana members, including
o-
the plaintiff, which money was to have been used in buildmg and establishing a university to be known as the American university; that 500,OuO Indiana persons bought robes of the Ku Klux Klan at $6.50 each, and that $3.50 of this sum was to go into the fund to establish the university, but that, after receiving $5,000,000 in this way, the defendant organization divided the money among its officers and did not use any of it for the purpose
intended.
It is alleged the Ku Klux Klan gave to William Joseph Simmons, ex-head of the Klan, $145,000 of this money; gave $100,000 to a sculptor for carving the likeness of Robert E. Lee on the face of Stone mountain, and that the officers of the corporation otherwise have dissipated the money of
the members.
It also is alleged that the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan organization is paying to Walter Bossert, imperial representative in Indiana, $20,000 a
week.
The complaint says that Hildebrand’s efforts to get an accounting from the national organization resulted merely in his being threatened and. told to “go home to Muncie,” and that Evans, the imperial wizard, finally; subjected him tp a “decree of banish-
rflent.”