The Topeka state journal., 1922-12-23
READY FOR CLASH
Additional Troops Called for
Service in Louisiana.
Finding of Bodies Brings About
OminOuS Situation.
MAY DECLARE MARTIAL LAW
Feeling Against Ku Klux Klan
Reaching Fever Point.
Seat of Parish Government,
However, Is PrO-KIan. R.,
MAY DECLARE MARTIAL LAW

Monroe, La, Dec. 23.-Attorney
General Coco today has set January
as the date for the Morehouse par
ish opening in connection with the
! Morehouse kidnapping case, it was
/ learned here.
/ The attorney general and a special
train with two companies of Louisiana
National Guard arrived in Bastrop
| this morning and the military men
pitched camp on the court house
square.
| Ner Rouge. La, Dec. 2S.-With
members of Attorney General Coco's
staff en- route here today to take
charge of an inquest over the two
bodies found floating in Lake La
Fourche, an ominous situation held
Moorehouse parish in its grip
Townspeople here openly declared
the bodies found are those of Watt
Daniels and Thomas Richards, who
were kidnapped last August by hooded
and robed men and they charge the
l<u I&lux I<lan members with the deed.
Bastrop, the seat of the parish gov
ernment, however. is pro-Klan. Its
people assert thesKlan as an organiza-
ton could have had nothing to do
with the crime.
The feeling created by the pro and
anti-Klan factions is serious, in the
opinion not only of citizens of both
places but also of Capt Cooper COM
manding Company C of the Louisiana
guard and Of federal investigators who
traced the vanished men to Lake
Fourche.
Look to Governor.
People are looking to Governor Par
ker for the next move, and they PREF
dict this move will be a declaration OF
martial law and orders to the troops to
make the arrests and start the wheels
turning to an investigation by grand
jury.
At least twenty arrests are expected
and some of the most prominent men
of the parish, it is declared, will be in
volved.
Fifty additional troopers of Com
pany G from Monroe, another COM
pany from Alexandria and machine
gun company from New Orleans were
en- route here today.
Officials are frankly expecting Sc
riouS trouble at almost any moment
They declare, however, they can han
die the situation
Federal Agents Busy.
Department of Justice operatives
were seen under CLOSE guard last
night. for they are believed to hold
evidence which will result in the ex-
pected arrests. For three months
they have been following every pos
sible clew to the case ana the finding
of the missing bodies furnished the
missing link for the chain of evidence
which long has been nearly COM
plete. An open hearing over the two
corpses which are under close guard
OF troops here will be demanded by
Mer, Rouge citizens.
Pathologists are expected to deter
mine whether the men were muir
dered and thrown into the lake or
whether they were tied to heavy iron
weights and thrown into the lake
alive. 1t is believed an examination
of the lungs will settle this question.
Relatives Identify Bodies.
The wire-bound and mutilated
bodies of two men recovered yesterday
in Lake La F'ourche by state troops,
believed to be those of Watt Daniels
and Thomas Richards, who disap-
peared after being kidnapped by mask
ed and white robed men, last August,
were further identified this morning
when viewed by Richards widow. ].
l. Daniels, aged father of Watt, and
a score of other relatives Nand friends.
Identification of at least Watt
Daniels is complete, according to au-
thorities. because of the initials T. w.
D., found on belt buckle and a buckle ]
Daniels is said to have worn at the
time no WAS SDiY-ifad