The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-06

1 to have the other doors closed. Second Address by Pratt. I When quiet was restored Pratt made 1 a seaond address. At the close of his
 remarks, the same procedure was fol- lowed as was carried out at the first
 meeting in this city. The fag-draped table was removed from the platform ] to the main floor and all those who 1 had signif1ed their sympathy with the organization were asked to kneel on l both knees and place their right hand | upon the left shoulder of the man in l front. In this position they took the
 oath, repeating it sentence by sen 1 tence after Pratt. There were two
 lines of kneelers and about 25 men l in each line.
 Each man swore, first, that he was an American citizen over IS years old and a profound believer in Protestant principles; second, that he would be loyal to his country and to his flag; that he would not betray the secrets of the order nor make known in any
 manner the secret work or the mem- bership; that he would vote for no other person than members of the or der; that he was not Joining the order for mercenary motives; that he would not recommend for membership any one whom he did not consider worthy; that he would forever hold sacred the chastity of the mothers, sisters and WIVES O4 u1SI1AOS1S OA L110 O1oSAs IAAdC he would remain true to his pledge to his dying day.
 Didn't Kneel; Asked to Leave.
 Just as the pledge was to be taken a dozen of those who had remained refused to knee1 down and were asked to leave the room by MT. Kirkwood.
 Those who took the pledge at the first
 meeting in this city were asked to sit
 in a special section Of the room. There
 were 28 of these. MT. Pratt said that the taking of the oath was but the l preliminary work of he order" and | that those who took the oath would be further initiated into the secrets of 1 the order later.
 s-Contributions. MT. Pratt then dismissed the neo-
 phytes, saying that he would meet them at the door and give them ''the sign and pass of the order. table was drawn up to the door and those
 who wished to contribute did so by
 placing their money upon the table. It was explained that part of this money WIS to go for subscription to
 '+The American Citfzen,'' an anti
 Catholic paper, and that the other part should go to the local organiza- 1 ton.
 l AS the new members of Hartford's
 newest secret society filed out, the
 sign and pass were given to each one
 as follows: MT. Pratt took each by 1.-the right hand and whispered the
 wordN Lexington" in his right ear,
 bending from left to right in so do- ling. In releasing the handclasp he l instructed the new members to hold
 their thumbs and forehngers in such l a position as to bring them together
 in a loop when the hands were un-
 c1asped.
 1 Munitions in Catholic Churches. l The Keynote of Pratt's address was
 that an organized effort should be
 started at once among Protestants to defeat the purpose of Cath olicism to
 though he did not know, it to be a
 fact, he firmly believed that guns and ammunition were stored in the base
 ments of Catholic churches and that, | if the obligations of the Knights s of
 Columbus to the Catholic church
 were known. people would be amazed
 and indignant.
 1 Crime By Catholics
 i .'sDid you ever hear of a Knight of lColumbus meeting being disturbed by people not in accord with their pur- pose,' he shouted. He answered this question negatively, but pointed out that the row at the beginning of the Fmeeting was but a, concrete example | of the obligations of the Knights of 1 Columbus. He did-not e1ucidate fur ther. Lowering his voice almost to a whisper, he said that between 75 and 1 80 per cent. of the crime in America l is committed by Catholics This, he
 explains, may be due to the fact that
 the Protestant holds himself respon-
 sib1e to God alone, and that the Cath
 olics can seek forgiveness of a priest.
 We know of indulgences; 1nduigences 1 by which, if you pay enough you will kbe given permission to commit cer- | tain criTn eS,'s he said.
 The speaker said that history shows that Catho cisrn has tried repeatedly
 to gain control of governments. The priests are educating their parfShiOn CTS, he said, for such an attempt in
 America. f'The Protestants should 1 organize now he shouted, ito fight
 against such a move, if necessary,
 with their lives. If you can't shoot l a straight ballot now, you may be forced to shoot with a gun later. Re
 member the Thirty Years War"
 seExplains'' Philadelphia Result MT Pratt explained very ingeni- ous1y the defeat of the No-Name So- ciety in the recent election in Phila-
 delphia. He said that the primary reason for the defeat was that the l Sunday the election Catholics l were. instructed in their churches as Ito the manner in which they should | vote. Another reason, he said, was i that Protestants depended too much l upon OLn0TS, anu u1duy were oSSSANOo by a misleading specimen ballot sent
 to them the day before election In order to preclude any further defeats l of this kind, member of the anti Catholic organization will be located in every district, he said. '"The re-
 suit of the election makes us more determined than ever," he said A large number of the 1O1, ,0o0 members of the society in Philadelphia, he said are more than IS years old but below the voting age.
 | ''CathoIic Contro1'
 MT. Pratt reiterated the statements
 made formerly by MT. Barnett that Catholicism was in control of the gov
 ernment in this country Seventy