New-York tribune., 1921-12-12
Ex-Klansnan
Is Whipped by
Masked Band
G. A. Rau, Missing Since
Thursday, When He Went
to ssBawl OUT Kleagle,
Tells of Beating in Jersey
Tied to Tree on Roadside
Declares He Was Told s'Thus
Endeth the First Les
son" and Left Bleeding

son and Lett Bleeding
G. A. Rau, who had been missing
from his home in the Delta Phi fra
ternity house, COZ West 116th Street.
since he started for Ku-Klux Klan
meeting in Brooklyn Thursday night
with the avowed intention of "bawling
out" Edward Young Clarke, imperial
kleagle of the organization, is at the
Hotel Buckingham. Fifth Avenue and
Fiftieth Street, recovering from Sc
we're whipping.
According to his roommate, Chester
A. Arthur. masked men waylaid him
near Montvale, N. j., Saturday night,
strung him up by the wrists to a limb
of tree with his own necktie and
whipped him until they drew blood.
"Thus endenth the first lesson" is the
remark one of them is said to have
made as they cut down their victim
and left him at the roadside.
Didn't Know Assailants
Rau himself was not we'll enough to
see any one, he said. His story was
related by Arthur and was corrobo-
rated in part by Major Alliston Nor
riss, formerly a member of Major Gen
eral John T. Organs staff at whose
home in Montvale Rau was staying.
Arthur said that his roommate told
him that he did not know who his as
sailants were nor did he know whether
they were members of the Ku-Klux
Klan.
Until he reached the hotel yesterday
and communicated with his friends, he
did not know of their anxiety concern
ing his absence nor that the missing
persons bureau of the Police Depart
ment had been asked to hunt for him.
Before he started for the Brooklyn
meeting of the Ku-Klux Klan Thurs
day night he told his friends that he
was going to "bawl out" Clarke. He
formerly was q member Of the organi-
zation, it is said, but became indignant
ly suspicious Of it and its officials when
! they failed to reply to the charges
made against them.
Denies Medal Story
| What he said at the meeting he did
I llOI tCll <1IGLuI IlS ueuleO WlUn con-
siderable heat, however, that he had de-
manded to know, as Clarke later said
he had, why it was that he had not
received one of the hero medals" dis
tributed to those who stood by the khan
during the attack upon it.
After the meeting he stayed down
town in Manhattan, and on Saturday
he went to Montvale to spend the week
end with Major Morriss, who is his
cousin. Saturday evening he went to
Montvale, which is more than three
miles from Major Morriss's home, tc
attend dance.
He left the dance between $3.50 and
9 o'clock and started to walk back tc
Major Morriss's house. He had got
about half way, he told Arthur, wher
an automobile approached from the rear
lie drew to the side of the road to let il
pass, but the car slowed down ane
came to stop just behind him.
Three or four men got out, Rau tolc
his roommate. They wore masks ant
ne could distinguish nothing by which
to identify them. Without a word. he
said, they seized him, tore the gar
ments from the upper part Of his bod,
and gagged him with fragment of hi:
shirt.
Swung From Branch of Tree
His wrists were bound together will
his necktie, he said, and the ends wer,
knotted over a branch of q tree tina
stood near the road. AS they drew hin
up to the branch one of the men strnc]
him on the head, he said. When hi
toes cleared the ground and he swun,
from his wrists one or more of tn,
men began. to whip him.
Whether they used a lashed whip.
buggy whip or switch cut close by
Rau said he did not know. He di
know, however, that every blow stun n,
and raised a welt. Before thew ha
finished, he said, the blood was trick
ling down his back.
1t was then they cut him down witt
the remark: "Thus endeth the firs
lesson"
AS his feet touched the ground h
got another blow on the head. which
with the whipping he had undergone
stunned him and he dropped to tn
ground
How he made the remaining mile an.
half or more to Major Morriss'
; home ne said, he did not know. He III,
not come fully to his senses. he said
until he saw the lights of the house.
Major Morriss's sister-in-law dresse,
his injuries. Major Morriss was not -
home. He said last night that whe,
ne did get back his Cousins condition
left no doubt that he had received
: severe beating. Who did it or wha
the circumstances were, Major Morris
said, he did not know.
1t was said at the Sheriff's Office !,
Hackensack that no complaint con
cerning the assault had been mad
, there.
!. Although Rau is living at tn
Delta Phi house and is a member -
that fraternity, he is not q. studen
at Columbia. He held captains com
/ mission In the army during the war.
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