New Britain herald., 1922-05-23
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.K.MembershipA But LocalM HQue 8
Many Are Curious, But As Far as Is Known, No One Has Been Asked to Join.

iSi' hiNSN Scu VII ioP VI iHV mountain Saturday night?" is a stand ling joke in New Britain this week, as friends greet each other on the street. The greeting refers to the much her aided gathering of Ku Klux Klan on top of a mountain near New Haven last Saturday night. But although there Is much joking, and although 1t is a known fact that local men have been approached and sounded out" by representatives of the Invisible empire" so far as can be ascertained there were no New Britaintes at the now famous initiation beneath the shadows of the flaming cross.
 Many Are Curious
 What does the organization stand for?" is the question heard on all sides What are it's objects?" is be- ing asked. To all questions there are many speculations, rumors and guesses more or less wild, but there seems to be 8 lack of definite infor- nation.
 The general feeling seems to be that the mysterious organization is anti Catholic. anti-Jew and anti-ne- gro. That it stands for a strict en- forcement of law and order by talk ing the laws in its own hands if deemed necessary, that it inculcates patriotism and does so by teaching theory of mob law, is general i'm preBion. But all are guesses. No one seems to know. Even those local men who have been approached were given no information.
 Local Men Approached
 The approaching was not done openly but rather cautiously, as though the men approached were be- ing felt out. One man, a travelling man, was "challenged' by a member of the white robed and hooded klan in a nearby city recently and when he failed to answer the signal. his chal- lenger said, laughingly, q see you are or you would have known what I meant"
 Literature In City
 A professional man is said to have received some literature and later on was approached by a young man who asked his opinion of the mysterious secret order He promptly advised his interviewer to refrain from afil- iating with the order,
 New Britain Absent . No word has reached the police de- partment as to the possibility of my to organize in this city, and in the lists of cities given as being represented at the concave on the mountain top, New Britain does not appear.
 What One Man Thinks
 T do not know what to think of it." said a local business man today Tt is true that there are Protestants who do not like Catholics and vice and whites who do not like negroes, and vice versa. but all this represents the pecuiarties of individuals and is not an indication of the frame of mind of the average person. Neither is the feeling universal in New Brit ain that they who are not with us are against us. do not know what my opinion of the Ku klux klan is but | am not prepared to take any stand | until have some definite information. |
 Branch In Hartford
 The order was discussed among a group of businessmen recently, when | he question was asked, What is the | ku klux klan, anyhow?" An out growth of the Kentucky Night Rid ,rs.' was the reply,
 While there seems to be no branch 3f the organizatio in New Britain. Hartford. on the other hand is said % have a small but active branch which meets in secret at regular in- ervals. Where the meeting is held md who attends those not numbered lmong the elected few have no chance If ascertainine