The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-14
FEW GATHER TO HEAR EXPOSURE OF KU KLUX
 KHAN IN BRIDGEPORT

ever be perpetrated is being commit ted by the Klan. Their plan of de- struction for the negro Is tars onh5eran6o n6o are not Jews or Catholics, perform the operation on the infant male. These doctors are members of the order.
 Though the membership books are secret, and are kept in the imperial palace in Atlanta, Ga, Col Simmons, the emperor, has openly boasted that monstrous organization. When Ma jor Wright left the order there were half a million members. Surely. that number has increased. Mrs Mary Elizabeth Tyler rules the or ganization with an iron hand. She Is the brains of the order. She knows the secrets better even than does the leader right here in Bridge port. It is safe to say that she, with her ally, Edward Young Clarke, have made millions of dollars by graft and rake-o offs received from the or der.
 Bridgeport has only skeleton organization. but It is menace to the city, to the state and to the coun- try. It is the duty of every Ameri- can citizen here to help stamp out the evil, to destroy the masked rid CTS. The emblem of the organization is an open palm, with the letters kO TOP, worn on the inside of the left lapel. Ostentatiously, the letters mean Knights of the Open Palm, but in fact, they mean Klansmen Observe Their Oath Persistently.''
 Some of the Secrets.
 L5eut. Eastman said that the klanS- men have a secret conversation, pass word and countersign, all of which indicate the purpose of the order. Everything is worked out in letters, some of the combinations being given by the speaker. He said, "A klans- man meeting another will say, AJAX, meaning Are you klansman?
 .'The reply will be AKIA, meaning A k1ansman I am. The next question will be CYGIAE, the letters for. Can you give insignia and evidence? A complete conversation is carried out in this way, until the men are as- sure1 that each is member of the order. At that time they clasp left hands. the official handshake.''
 In concluding his address Lieut.. Eastman urged the audience to fight fire with fire.-to form some sort of oreanizS ton " hich will be a thorough American order, based on the theory of justice to all men. regardless of race, color or creed. He said, 1.-The mask of the burglar gives him sense of security.
 ''The mask of the bandit gives him a feeling of safety. And the mask of the Ku Klux Klan is more despicable than the mask of either the burglar or the bandit, for it is a, combination of both-a monster conspiracy against the public. The whole scheme upon which Klux Klanism is worked is rotten. It is unpatrIotic, un-Ameri- can. It has no place in a free coun- try. It threatens to destroy the very life of this country"
 Major Wright's Address.
 Major c. Anderson Wright, execu- tive officer of the Air Division of the New York Police department, in be- ginning his address. said that the k1ansrnen present in the audience would agree that though the ritual of the order is beautiful, the carry ing out of the creed is not. The The password of the order, Major Wright declared, is White Supremacy.
 He said: ''The klan is but a money making organization. Open war has been delared against the Jew. the Catholic, the negro and the foreign born. The order professes to be 100 per cent. American, but it is not, for 1t stands for everything that is bad. It stands for bigotry of the worst kind. The members are afraid to face the world in the open.
 May, they must wear white robes and hide hahind the protection order gives the criminal" He con tinued, explaining the workings of the order in politics. E"In Texas,'' he said, candidates for office are re- quired to state their stand on the Ku Klux klan question, so powerful an issue has 1t become. Ku Kluxism is avershadowing everything else in Texas"
 At this point Lieut. Eastman donned robe worn by the grand goblin of the order, and his features were en-