Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-08-09
NORTH CAROLINA KU KLUX
Supreme Head Orders DiSbdndement
OF the KlanS.
MAI. BRUCE CRAVEN RAISES RUMPUS
Alleges that Organization is Out for
g Fees and That He Was Induced to
Join by False Pretenses.

| Craven, OF lTlnllS, touay uSS' Z" S''
Ku Klux Kan in North Carolina, "of
which | am the supreme head in this
state, disbanded and abandoned, every
organized Klan ended and every
KIansman released from his connec-
ton, his responsibilities and obliga-
tions."
His action, he declared, was due to
dissatisfaction with the purposes ana
acts of the organization. At the same
time, he announced he had forwarded
his resignation as grand dragon OF
North Carolina to Colonel William
Joseph Simmons, of Atlanta, imperial
wizard of the order.
Local officers Of the Klan today said
they would ignore Major Craven's Or
der. They explained that he has been
only the tentative head Of the or
| gaHization and has no authority to dis
band it. In the meantime, they are
awaiting instructions from the i'm
perial wizard, who informed a local
newspaper that full statement would
be issued in Atlanta this afternoon.
In Major Craven's statement, he
said
There is no possibility Of keeping
the organization from unlawful out
RACES, nor out Of politics. was in the
| presence of the imperial wizard, when
another high official made the state
ment that he wanted everything urged
toward the consummation of nation
al organization which could elect a
president of it's own and there was
general agreement with the sentiment
expressed. l have revolted from the
first at these tendencies, at the anony-
nous letter writing, and at the mess
of lies about the greatness of the thing
and it's power, etc. / had been led to
| believe l could control the affairs in
North Carolina, but this has not been
true. The newspaper organ in Atlanta,
The Searchlight,' is an insult to any
intelligent man and about on the same
plane with the inflammatory negro
papers and the bolshevist propaganda.
This paper publishes in big headlines
that 10000 people heard Colonel Sim
mons in Greensboro, and the statement
, is published in anonymous letters that
there are 10000 members in North
Carolina, 5000 in Greensboro and that
they are organized in every state of
the union. There are at the present
time perhaps 5000 in the state who
have paid their initiation fees, one
! fourth of them within 80 miles of
Greensboro, and most of whom as
soon as they got in, and saw who was
there, kissed their money goodbye
and quit. Some of the best citizens in
Greensboro have joined and finding
there was no restriction whatever IN
admitting members except the money
consideration, they left never to return
and were labeled traitors to the sacred
cause. One of them, prominent
business man, together with several
other intelligent men, protested
against the Wholesale admission of
thieves and bootleggers, and he was
summarily 'banished,' without trial,
and supposedly in disgrace, by the or
ganizer, and without consulting me-.
PERSONALLY, prefer to lose without
protest what have put into it, but the
promises made to High Point, and the
way the organization was managed, af-
fords an excellent opportunity to go
into the court and demand the return
of the $4,000 collected there. l offer
now my services to them If they VIII
stand together on this proposition and
try it out
why did | fall for it? Well, | am
a credulous, enthusiastic sort of per-
son, with lot of prejudces. etc, and
I think the professions of this thing
met the requirements of all the foolish
ideas l possessed. Even then l held
back a 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 Governor Morrison, after
his outburst against it, was seen and
promised good behavior, and later ap-
piled for admission and was held or
probation; that Josephus Daniels was
refused because he was too friendly tt
the negroes after living in Washington
eight years; that Senator Oyermar
was twice refused admission; tina
General Pershing, Attorney Genera
Daugherty, Gen. Julian S. Carr, anc
numerous others were original ant
earnest members; that the News ant
Observer and Charlotte Observer ant
Asheville Citizen and Wilmington Sta
had agreed to keep hands off if the!
were let alone; that the Greensboro
News was to be let alone because 1t:
criticism would really help; that th'
Raleigh Times was controlled by som'
of the Raleigh members; and tina
there were $4,000 members in Nortl
Carolina, with others applying for ad
mission at the rate of 1000 a day: tina
no application was ever considered un
til after rigid investigation, and that
as stated in the anonymous letter t
The News, character was the onl,