The Washington times., 1921-08-14

It that way. My protest was appealed
to Atlanta and pigeon-holed.
Personally 1 prefer to lose without
protest what l have put into 1t, but
the promises made to High Point, and
the way the organization was man
aged. affords an excellent opportunity
to 60 into the courts and demand the
return of the 5000 collected there.
l offer now my services to them IL
they will stand together on this pro
position and try it out.
why did i fall for It?
We'll, 1 am a cHedulous, enthusi.
astic sort of person with a lot of
prejudices and 1 think the professions
OF this thing met the requirements
Of all the foolish ideas l possessed.
Even then i held back long time,
and never entered until / was shown
what they claimed was the whole
system.
"They told me, for instance, that
Senator Simmons was one Of the first
men to Join In the State; that Gov.
ernOr Morrison after his Outburst
against It was seen" and promised
good behavior and later applied for
admission and WAS held on probation:
that JOsephus Daniels was refused ad.
mission; that Senator Overman was
twice refused admission; that General
Pershlng, Attorney General Daugh-
erty, General Julian s. Carr and
others were original and earnest mem
bers. that the Raleigh News and OBJ
server, the Charlotte Observer, Ashe-
Vile Citizen and Wilmington Star, had
agreed to keep hands off II they were
al AkA
was to DO let alone because its criti.
cism would really help; that the
Raleigh Times was controlled by some
OF the klansmen Of Raleigh; that there
were $4,000 members In North Car.
DINA and others applying for admis.
sion ut the rate OF 1000 per day; that
no application was considered until
after rigid investig alton; and as stated
In the anonymous letter TO the News.
character was the only test.
THESE are the reasons I Joined
whether / believe any of these things
Is another thing entirely, and / can't
answer 1t, except to say ii is easy
70 believe what one wants to believe.
was credulous and was caught.
Used As Catspaw.
Then they picked me to head the
permanent organization in the State.
thought this was due to my nc
quaintance with the State and with
tho right kind Of men In every
county.
In fact, know now 81 was BE-
cause they figured 1 was the best
asset they could pick. In order to-
use 1t to bring In the coin. Colonel
Simmons promised me everything and
gave his personal word to me that
no action could be taken in the khan
that was not lawful. that I was the
supreme head in North Carolina as
he was In the nation, and / was
answerable only to him; that 1 could
Guild my own organization with men
OF genuine ability and character.
All this was an empty promise
and the organizers, professional
mopey-getters from outside tho state,
who knew nothing and cared nothing
about the right kind of men, pro.
ceeded to use my name secretly and
openly In answer to the charge Of
fraud.
AT one meeting pledged this
State organization for law and or.
der, and guaranteed everything pro-
fessed and lao men came forward.
took the oath and paid the cash.
They caught me and used me and
probably laughed at It, but they made
the mistake of thinking would
quietly lie down and take II.
After the highcr.ups saw this
disruption was imminent they offer.
ed me a great deal IL I would organ.
ize Asheville. / had previously agreed
to organize that city without any
cash consideration. That was before
my eyes were opened.
Il am the only man prominent in
the khan who has ever lost anything
and / am glad Indeed that not one
dollar has ever come into my hand In
this thing in any way and that my
account with them shows a deficit
of several hundred dollars. de.
served to lose 1t and can only repeat
that my one regret is that all
lost in II might have been money.
The imperial wizard, in my opin-
ion. is personally sincere, but he has
only moderate ability and no force
at all. He Is not competent to head
the organization II It could succeed,
In which event II would control
everything in America. He has
mixed up in fraternal orders and
has dreamed this thing.
Some strons-minded men without
sincerity took charge OF II. con.
troll II and laugh at the poor fools
who fall for IL.
They gave me my chance to