New-York tribune., 1922-11-22
kal-kl,lxUproar
I4iI)elsI4Ouisiarla
Says Ransdell
Defends State i'm Senate /:
Calls Crimes Isolated
Instances Not Half as
Bad as Herrin Massacre
Murder Mystery Is Cited
Walsh Reads Letters Asking
Aid TO Trail Slayers of
Veteran, Foe of the Khan
From The r,tbune.s vo.s,no,oe p,r,e,,

4 y
| WASHINGTON, Nov. 21.-Aetivitie.
OF the Ku-Klux Khan in Louisiana came
IN for an airing on the floor of the
Senate to-day. Senator Joseph Z. Rams.
dell, of Louisiana, arose to question
! Of privilege to defend Louisiena
/ against charges Of excessive Klan in
fuence, as published in "The Washing
ton Post"
This prompted Senator Walsh, OF
Massachusetts, to put into the record a
letter from Joseph Morningstar, Of CAS-
ebo West Thirty-fourth Street, New
York, in which he commented on the
disappearance Of Fillmore Watt Daniel,
in Morehouse Parish. La. and com
mended Daniels record as soldier.
ard also a letter Of Governor Parker to
Morningstar asking for his opinion Of
Daniel and urging former service men
to bring pressure on the Department of
Justice to punish the persons guilty of
murder.
Governor Parker visited the Capitol
before the remarks in the Senate on
the Klan and was in the chamber a
short time prior to the speaking.
Calls Reports Libelous
Senator Ransden, after saying ne was
shocked and grieved TO read in f"rhe
story of crime, lawlessness and ter
rorism in Louisiana" added:
"If the statements in these articles
were correct, the plight of my staCc
would be sad indeed, but they are far
from the truth. I cannot conceive how
such sweeping, libelous, extremely
damaging statements in regard TO an
entire Southern state-not TO some
community thereof--could have been
given even ordinary publicity in rep
usable newspaper, but when placed on
the first page of one Of the greatest |
journals in America, issued at the ma
TONS capital, under headings so large I
as to attract universal attention, it is |
utterly incomprehensible.
81 cannot believe the Post set out !
wilfullY and deliberately to SANDER and ,
destroy the good name of Louisiana, but
unless immediate retraction is made by |
1t, in the same conspicuous way that |
the libel was uttered, the effect is GER
tain to be most injurious,
II travelled over several parts of
Louisiana during the last six weeks
and met great many of its citizens.
Conditions seemed to be normal every
where; the courts were functioning as
usual the people were attending fairs
and Armistice Day celebrations with
apparent relish: business was excel
lent in many places and poor IN others;
there, was no general unrest; the press
was free and cutspoken on all sub
jects, including the Ku-Klux KIan, and1
there was no more crime than usual.
~ heard much comment about the
Mer Rouge outrage, which probably
resulted in the murder Of two men
under dastardly circumstances, and
gossip connected individual members
Of the Ku"Klux Klan with this crime
Il say probable murder as the two
ago, have never been heard from
since and there is every reason to
believe they were fouliy murdered.
This deplorable affair was an iso-
lated one in thinly populated com
munity and 1t cost but two human
lives and the cruel beating of two
others. No one has been tried for it as
yet, but ! am assured that evidence is
being gathered and when obtained that
tne mnfaererS VIII be brought to JUS
tiee and prosecuted with all the power
which the Attorney General Of the
state and the local authorities can
muster.
Cites Crimes Elsewhere
"This Mer Rouge crime, by odds the
worst that has occurred in Louisiana
during the last four years, pales into /
insigpifcance when compared to the |
horrors OF the race riots OF 1920 in |
Chicago; the West Virginia miners
civil war of 1921, and the Herrin, H., !
wholesale murders Of helpless men be- |
cause they wished TO work, only few
months ago. 1t would have been 3 very
unjust SANDER on the states of West |
Virginia and Illinois because of these
terrible crimes, to say their courts
had ceased TO function; their citizens
we're in terror; their press had been
slieneed; outrages against persons
were frequent and never punished, etc.
And yet, when a crime, small in
comparison with those of West Vir-
glnia and Illinois occurs in one of the
slXty-four parishes of Louisiana the
whole state, with it's nearly two million
persons, is held up to scorn before
mankind, The statements in The
Pest are vicious and ,1nfrua -