Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-26
TUESDAY EVENING: pEcEMEER 20. 1879.
HOODS AND, S

80 CIoDA 49, h 1
HOODS AND, MASKS.
If there were needed a demonstration of the
accountability Of the secret-niembership society
and that ordered liberty which lies at the very base
of American institutions, we need look no further
than the state of Louisiana, where the military pow
er Of the state has~been called on to stand guard
while h etcivil department. investigates a crime in
tolerable in any civilized community, but of asclass
inseparable from the existence of organized bodies
of men whose membership is unknown, whose pur-
poses and procedure are therefore necessarily
cloaked and covered, and whose activities are di-
.rected toward the regulation of the lives and the
keeping of the consciences Of other people.
Last August a band of sheeted, masked and
lhooded men seized FIVE residents of the town of
Mer Rouge, Louisiana, carried them to a d~esolate'
place and there logged them b~rutally. The three
who were permitted to return were badly bruised
and battered, and toldla terrible story of the treat
ment to which they had been subjected. Two of
the FIVE never returned. Their bodies were found
the other day, bound with wire. and sunk to the
bottom of a lake.
Those are the bare facts. As to the reasons for
the outrage conflicting opinions are held. One of
these opinions>is that the assault and double MUIR
der were committed by members of the Ku Klux
Khan, whose activities in Louisiana are now being
made the subject of official investigation.
AS to the correctness of this theory nobody,
so far as we know, has any means of proof or dis
proof. Denial, of course, is to be expected, and
y (OulIS y OIu4ll dS ulCtl WNO WOulu SOlUuuN Su(A
. crime would deny it and perjure themselves to
fortify their denial.
Many crimes have been committed recently by
similarly disguised men, and those who have un-
dertaken to- speak in defense of the Khan have said
that the guilty persons were not members of the
organization, but lawless persons who assumed the
recognized livery of the society in order to divert
attention from themselves and direct ittoward an
organization which they hated and feared, and
sought to bring into %disrepute. {"
lE np five 4 - - kLk T1~ rtsc1 -, 49,
rowed the disguise which has been used from time
imrnemorial blythe thug, the assassin and the rob
Der, the disguise of hood and mask, of darkness, of
secrecy. 1t is to these latter that the disguise be-
longs by right of prior discovery and uninterrupted
use, and it has remained for a modern society, in a
civilized country, dealing in high-sounding phrases
and protesting lofty motives, to attempt now to
redeem this badge from the ignominy in which it
is stepped. That task cannot be accomplished.
There are probably in, Louisiana, as there are
elsewhere, respectable men who belong to this So
tiety. But the respectable citizen who allies, him
self with an organization which has adopted one Of
the favorite and necessary devices of the felon, that
Of secrecy, is getting himself into dangerous COM
pany. He knows, if he will but give himself time
to think, that the very existence of such an organi-
cation in his community will operate as a stimulus
to the commission Of Unlawful acts under cover Of
his society's emblem, and he and his associates will
be constantly on the defensive. In spite Of all et-
fort to the contrary their membership viii become
NiiS"AI VI ouSPCSAS0, du0 II IIClI SldllUlu$ Ill InC
community is such as to absolve them of personal
blame, they cannot escape stigma, for one cannot
y touch pitch and not be dehled.
In attempted extenuation of this particular So
Sety it has been pointed out that there are nurner-
GUS other societies whose proceedings are secret.
and which have not fallen under the ban. There
are There are ~frateTnal, benevolent, religious and
social organizations whose business, is conducted
behind closed doors, and without criticism. But
the essential difference is that the membership Of
M $hARAt eSciofiAa - InNu,at Tne%>oI o$ xk>~n-k:. 4
conceal it the members as a rule take pride in their
membership, and all who desire may know what the
personnel Of these organizations is. The distinc-
ton is fundamental, There are other differences
relating to the aims, purposes and general policy Of
societies but the single fact of open or secret mem
bership goes right to the root Of the subject. We
take it that the respectable Kiansmen in Louisiana
parishes surrounding Mer Rouge would feel more
comfortable if they had never consented to don the
sheet, hood and mask.