The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1914-02-21
NHR Catholic pres is jubilEnt
lit has found q new bone 10

Cnaw on-And the hnights
OF Columbus have found something
which they SEEM 10 think will at
tract the peoples attention away
from oolwein, New lexington, Car
bondale, Pittsburgh and other places
where they have recently attempted
20 murder public speakers in cold
blood for the ''crimeS Of speaking in
defense Of liberty and the flag, and
the American Public School Sys-
TEN which the "Nitcs" are taught TO
believe is goddess" and should be
destroyed.
The Catholic papers are carrying
such headlines a. these: ~The
Menace Self Condemned" "Win Its
Many Supporters Still Stand By
lt% ''rhe Menace Admits That Ii
Libeled the knights Of Columbus, /"
etc, etc.
And the cause Of all this hilarity ?
A letter written by ye scribe 20
Leroy N. King, the jesuitical attor-
ney, Of Philadelphia, who defended
| (O Stage and MegOnegal, Of that
city, in a recent trial on a charge OF
printing and circulating the alleged
knight Of Columbus Oath.
When these men were arrested,
though they were total strangers to
US, we did all we could to assist
them at this distance, as readers Of
The MENACE know. We would have
done the same thing had il been
some one else. and we will probably
do the same thing again in the fu-
ture should another case arise where
we think the men involved are the
victims Of a Romish plot. as we
thought was the case with Stage
and Mercnegal.
/ Whether these men acted wisely
OF unwisely, whether they are
friends Of THE MENACE or enemies,
and whether they were scared, crazy
or simply ignorant when they EN-
ployed Knight Of Columbus attor-
neys to defend them in their law
suit, and thereby allowed themselves
to become helplessly entangled in the
Romish net, is beside the question
and not for us to say, for we would
have rendered them every assistance
We possibly could just the same, so
long as we believed that they we're
being victimized by this band Of
conspirators.
But the fact that these men not
only plead guilty to the charge in
the indictment, that Of circulating
the alleged oath, but that they went
still further and acknowledged il to
be a libel, Vhen they had no irdy OF
kH6ping Thether u Was or NOT,
doesn't seem TO claim the attention
of the hierarchy and the Catholic
press at sll-all they howl about is
the letter from THE MENACE 10 the
attorney for Stage and Megonegal.
One would think that the letter in
question was a profound secret, that
We had written il in the dark,
sneaked it out Of Aurora. between
the suns and delivered ii to the at.
torneys in person and that we could
I not expect anything but 10 be ruined
/ IL II should ever see the light Of day.
And now lets read that awful letter.
Here it Is:
March 5, 1918.
Mr.. Leroy n. King, Philadelphia, Pa:
Dear Sir;-Replying TO your letter Of
February 9th, we wish TO state that we
are not in possession OF the ritual and
secret work Of the Knights Of Colum.
bus, but we believe we are in fair way
TO get Il, and the statement in a re.
cent issue Of THK MENACE, which led
you TO believe that We had it in our
POSSESSION. while somewhat Of = blnH
on our part, was based on the fact that
we know Il can be had. You will note
that we printed In our No. % the ritual
and secret work Of the Hibernians. and
We are positive that Il is authentic The
alleged oath vkich your clients In phlls.
dellI Ihia were arrested for distributing.
was circulated in practically every
state during the late ean,paian and tks
emand upon es for tAia dotnnenf vss
somethina great, aud We had recsissd
copies Of them from % many soarcSs us
simply printed and hsndled them a We
would aay other Job of p1pfine, 70 sup
ply ths demand, anf Wills W hsrs 70
Spolo1,el 10 uatt tor "a doinr. ~ A
not haye any eyiden<s that ~ cath is
enc yhlss = tskss - HsnSsrs of tks
We Gel sure Tat Il ueuld be folly
for you 70 undertake 10 base your de-.
fense on the authenticity Of this doeu.
ment.
We note that some Of tAe ofsciais ar.
claiming that Il Is not an oath bound
order, which Of course Il s0bterfnoo
and untrue. You can depend on them
resorting TO any method which fkey can
eonfrivs 70 bluE away thsir critics, and