Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1914-02-21
Poor Comfort For Dupes Who
Were Arraigned Before
Philadelphia Court.
Louisville Distributors Probably
Feel Cheap For Being
Taken In.
EXTRACTS FROM The FAKE

Catholics of this section will re-
member that a bogus knights oil
Columbus oath was distributed
pretty freely during the last cam
paign. and as in all matters of that
kind some were credulous enough
to believe IL authentic in spite of the
fact that some of the sections were
absurd. one of the copies being in
this office. The following is an ex-
tract from the supposed oath:
THAT l will provide myself with
arms and ammunition that ! may be
in readiness when the word is
passed. or am commanded to de-
fend the church, either as an indi-
vidual or with the militia of the
Pope.
81 do further promise and declare
that I will have no opinion or will
Of my own, or any mental reserva-
ton whatsoever, even as a corpse or
cadaver, but will unhesitatingly
obey each and every command that
/ may receive from my superiors in
the militia of the Pope and Jesus
Christ.
'T do further promise and declare
that will, when opportunity pre-
sents, make and wage relentless war,
secretly and openly, against all
heretics, Protestants and Masons, as
am directed to do, to extirpate
them from the face of the whole
earth. and that | will spare neither
age, sex nor condition, and that 4
will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay,
strangle and bury alive these in
famous heretics; rip up the stomachs
and wombs of their women, and
crush their infants heads against
the walls, in order to annihilate
their execrable race. That when the
same can not be done openly, | will
secretly use the poisonous cup. the
strangulation cord, the steel of the
poniard, the leaden bullet, regard
less of the honor, rank, dignity or
authority of the persons, whatever
may be their condition in life, either
public or private, as I, at any time,
may be directed so to do by any
agents of the Pope or Superior of
the Brotherhood Of the Holy Father
of the Society of Jesuits."
The above is only a sample of
similar rot contained in the bogus
oath, and which Charles Megonegal,
a printer, and Clarence H. Stage, a
barber, both of Philadelphia,
pleaded guilty of circulating after
being indicted by the grand jury,
both acknowledging that they re-
ceived their matter from the Menace.
Their attorney. Leroy II. King, |
wrote to the Menace and asked for |
proof of the alleged X. G. oath, |
intimating that the proper informal
ton would clear his clients, as the |
prosecution charged that there was |
no oath taken in any Of the degrees. |
Here is the Menace's answer:
Office Of the Menace.
Rev. Theo. G. Walker, Editor.
Marvin Brown, Associate Editor. |
Mr.. Leroy H. King.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Dear Sir: Replying to your letter |
we wish to state that we are not in |
possession of any ritual and secret |
work of the knights of Columbus, |
but we believe we are in fair way |
TO get IT, and the statement in a |
recent issue of the Menace, which |
led you to believe that we had 1t in
our possession, while somewhat of a |
bluff on our part, was based on the |
fact that we know II can be had. |
You will note that we printed in our
No. SO the ritual and secret work |
of the Hibernians. and we are posi- |
tive that II is authentic. The |
alleged oath which your clients in
Philadelphia were arrested for dis |
tributing was circulated In prac-
tically every State during the last |
campaign and the demand upon us
for this document was something |
great, and we had received copies OF |
them from so many sources we sim |
ply printed and handled them as we |
would any other job of printing, to |
supply the demand. and while we
have no apologies to make for so |
doing. We do not have any evidence |
that the oath is the one which is
taken by members OF the knights OF |
Columbus.
We feel sure that II would be |
folly for you to undertake TO base |
your defense on the authenticity OF |
this document.
We note that some OF the officials |
are claiming that Il is not an oath |
bound order, which OF course is a |
subterfuge and untrue. You can
depend on them resorting to any
method which they can contriye to |
bluff away their critics, and II they |
are so bent on yindicating them |
selves why not ask that they present |
in court the obligations which they |
do take. This would be the quickest |
way to clear up the matter In the
minds of the people.
We are filing your letter and will |
be on the lookout for anything which
will aid in the defense of these men.
Trusting that this Will be satisfac-
tory. We beg to remain.
Yours sincerely
The Menace Publishing Co.,
Aurora. Mo-,
per NJ. B.