The Mena weekly star., 1911-08-17
IkIan Was Purely Military.

organization.
 klan Was Purely Military. After a meeting of about weeks duration the plans were perfected The order was named, with Genera Forrest as commanders -in-chief, oI Grand Wizard, at the head, anc with absolute military authority Ii passing, the Klan was purely mili-
 tary, and not until it's disbandine and subsequent illegitimate reor-
 ganization did it usurp powers
 either civil or political. The names lof the officers were, after the com mander-in-chief, who was the
 grand wizard, the wizard, state
 commander; grand titan, second ir
 state command; titian, third: grand
 cyclops, equivalent to brigade
 commander; cyclops, county com
 mander and mogul, company com lmander. A company's meeting place was called "den." The uni form of the order was black shroud both for man and horse, with tin stars, half moons, etc., sewed upon 1t. None but Confed- crate soldiers in good standing and their sons from i8 years up were admitted without securing dispen-
 saiion from the grand wizard. Gen. eral Shaver stated that he fre- lquently secured dispensations in order that he might admit telegraph operators, by that means securing the wire which was held entirely by the Klan north of Little Rock. The meetings were always held at dead Of night and in dense woods; the Klan never, at any time, gath cred in house, no matter what the weather.
 f5,000 Armed Men at His Call.
 Among the dens organized in Ar kansas were those at Washington, Camden, El Dorado, Monticello and other places, and Gen. Shaver stat ed yesterday that at the time of dis banding, pursuant to the order of the grand wizard, he had f5O00 armed men in Arkansas ready to assemble at his call. Incidentally, while t is known to but few, the recapture of Llttia Rock by the hu Kux was planned, when sus- pension orders were issued from Gen. Forrest.
 Among the cyclops of southern Arkansas was Gen. James F. Smith of Little Rock, who was very in- stfumental in breaking up the Me- gro League meetings in Hampstead and surrounding counties.
 That was where l shone,n said the general yesterday in accounting an instance in which an unusually large gathering was broken up without the uttering of word or the firing of a gun.
 invisible Empirev Dissolves.
 However, with the quieting of the situation and the inclination of the lawless element to exceed the good purpose for which the klan was organized, it was deemed best to disband, and in the investigation that followed, Gen. Shaver, because of traitor in his ranks, was forced to flee to Honduras for his life.
 So, the Ku Klux Klan, the in- visible empire, T. SC and fell in it's incipiency, when Anglo-Saxton su- premacy was it's watchword and guiding star, one of greatest organi- zations ever formed, and in it's latter days, when outlaws and libertines broke in to use it as a vehicle for personal and political prejudice, one of the worst. But, although the latter breed masqueraded under the name and insignia of the Klan, they were never Of it. Knighthood in the order was kept pure to the last, and it's doors were locked against the outsider as fast as the inviolate secret of it's oath of blood is kept in the breasts of those who rode be- heath it's banner.