The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-01-20
FATE OF KHAN
 AT STAKE IN
 WESTERN TRIAL

Asrdsnore. Okla, Jan. 20 - A case
 which, in the words Of State Attorney general S. F. Freeing will mean Issne nfe or death of the IEu Klux kian
 was c2lied here res stteruaS when Il of Carter couuty's s1hosI prominent citizens are to be ar ' rslgned before Judge Thomas W. s#s1hampion in district court for rria! N on charges of murder
 The defendants, all well known { lness nuHness and professional men of the county. were among r arrested fol- s11owlng an attack by nine masked men upon Joe Carroll at his home in VII $ son the night of December 15 when lhree mon, one of them Carroll, was 1atally shot.
 Originally, 15 were held fer murder sS \ ana two as witnesses for the state bUt 3 ar subsequent sessions of the joint ex- \ amtning trial Of seven of the men be- ss1ore Justice D. w. Butcher the cases $ agalnst four, Gase Of them Baptist { minister, were dismissed on motion f'o1. the prosecution that no evidence
 affair
 On this night in aid-Decamber. the state charges, more than 100 men rom Ardmore and the surrounding
 county, all masked and with buckets of tar and pillows of feathers. gath
 cred 1r pasture just SfEe miles south [ Of Wilson and sent eight of their num- Der in two autom obiIes under the lead
 ership of c. G. Sims, Ardmore police \ uetect1Ve, to 'get' Carroll. A state
 mont to authorities by one of the de- Pendants shortly after his arrest was to the effect that Sims had persuaded < The band of men to accompany him { that right ito round up several wet tcar dealers and bootleggers-"
 TUnabG to find CarroIIs residence, the eight men then called at the home fof John Smith in Wilson and one Of fthoir number a relative of Smith made him leave a sick bed and guide < them to CarrolFs house telling him. 4aecording to the teseirn Ony of Sin1th's wife at the preliminary hearing, that < you are forced to do it as have been forced.r
 When the men called at Carron's { home he answered their summons to < to throw up his hands drew h:N re-
 volver and wounded one of the men ! who attempted to wrest it from him.
 Then amid the screams of women and shouts of men, a gun battle en-
 sued, also participated in by CarroIl's i brother. who lived next door. When the fierce exchange of rifle and pistol shots subsided and the masked men mad fled in their automobiles, Car rolls lifeless body was picked up off { his doorstep and John Smith, a few minutes later, was found on a street dn Wilson not far from the scene of
 the engagement, suffering from bullet
 wounds which within two hours
 caused his death.
 The following day, shortly before moon, Sims dead body, clad in suit
 of khaki unionalls, was found lying in The pasture where 12 hours before, he had planned to administer punish
 ment to Carroll for his alleged actiyi-
 Mes as bcot1egger.
 Jeff smith. the man who was wounded in the affray, guide7 the authorities to the pasture when Sims body was discovered and told them 5 1t was brought out at the preliminary trial, that the place had freuuentIy rbeen used as a meeting place for the
 -'Citizens' League or Ku KluX Klan.''
 He Is one of the defendants in the
 ease.
 The custodian of a tocal lodge hall.
 in which the Ku Klux KIan rents
 rooms, testified at the hearing that
 on the night of the killings, one of the
 defendants and another man whom
 he did rot recognize, left the prop
 erty'' room rented by the Ku KIux ; Kan with bundles under their arms. i The defendant admitted in a. signed
 statement to auth oriuies that he was
 one of those who later met in the
 pasture.
 Efforts of the prosecution then 5 were directed toward establishing the
 Ku K1ux R1an's connection with the Incident and the examination of wit
 nesses ended abruptly when Frank Bour9and. who, the lodge hall custo-
 dian testified, paid rent on the Ku ! kI1x klan's rooms, refused to testify as to his connection with the organ 1zatfon. He also declined to answer the prosecution's query to what a large box in the property room lcontained. Nineteeen questions, all PSIIdtHiIiS IO GIio hu AIuN tlall, were asked him and he refused to answer all but one.
 A sensation was produced at the
 first day of the hearine; when Walter sCarrols brother arose while on the :. witness stand and accused Ray L, Beede, local automobile dealer, and gone of the defendants, of killing hl broTher during the fight.
 Later, in a signed statement before
 notary public at Wilson, Carroll repudiating his testimony at the hear q y1Fl r9 1l,~F !, sfof the indenity of any persons parti- oipating in the attack on his brother The following day, however he issued another signed statement here, deny 8 trE that he said he could not indeutf-