Evening star., 1923-09-22
STATE LEGISLATORS
|. SAY BULLETS ONLY
CAN STOP MEETING
Young Oklahoma Lawmakers
Confident They Will I'm
peach Walton.
GOVERNOR Determined
TO PREVENT A MEETING
Says Session Will Be Klan Gath
ering-Highest K. K. K. Of
fetal Arrested.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
OKLAHOMA CITY, September 22.-
Only bullets or bayonets will prevent
the legislature of Oklahoma from
|convening in extraordinary session
Wednesday to start an investigation
not only of gang foggings in this
state, but also an investigation of
Gov. Walton's administration; unless
there is backdown before that time
either by the Walton or the anti
Walton forces.
That was the statement made after
IA twenty-four-hour session of the
legislative committee, headed by W. d.
McBee, which adjourned at o'clock
Saturday morning. BY that time the
ranks of the house members already
here. who are determined to in
vestigate not only gang foggings but
the Walton administration, had been
swelled to more than score.
They are a bronzed. determined
set of men. That their numbers will
be increased by Wednesday was made
evident by the kilograms which pour
ed in today. A message from Repre-
sentative Wesley Gage of Sapulpa,
Creek county, said. Ride 'er1, cowboy.
Stay with it. Will be on deck for
the finish. Wesley Gage" 1t was
typical of the others.
Mostly Young Men.
Most of them are young men, ex-
cept for a grizzled ranger here and
there. None looks more than forty
at most. Many are in their twenties
or early thirties, and of the latter
there are few who did not carry a
gun or an automatic in France. They
are all slow speaking, with a south
ern drawI that somehow impresses an
| outsider the more strongly with their
| stern purposefulness, There are two
or three who look TO be mere boys,
but there was little levity during the
| long hours of the session.
| Any tendency to break the tension
was modified by the realization that
there may be serious trouble if Wal
ton holds to his avowed statement.
quietly but forcefully made, that
there will be no meeting of the leg
islature."
Even the older men of the legis-
lators are young, as time goes in
state politics, for it must be remem-
bered that the state of Oklahoma is
one of the three babies of the nation
in commonwealth sovereignty, being
senior only to New Mexico and Ari-
zona.
Walton Determined.
To Walton. at his usual evening
conference on Friday, was carried
news that the legislators would meet
at any cost. The governor grew tense
and bit out the two words They
won't"
He then turned the subject to tele-
graphic congratulations on his stand
he said he had received from Wash
ington, New York. Phoenix. Ariz.. and
other places. He got a good laugh
when one of the newspaper men
asked him if it was true that the
state militia had stopped his machine
twice the night before and had made
him prove he had a right to be out
after midnight. He turned to the
writer, who happened to have been
with him when the incident occurred,
and said: That's what ! get for be-
ing in that kind of company"
That was the first time, according
to those who have seen him daily for
a week, that he has thrown off the
cares which he said today were max
ing him jumpy."
Both Sides Worried.
In the matter of converting the
Legislature, however, much of the con-
ffdence shown by both sides is on the
surface Nevertheless. it plainly
worries both the pros and the antis
| Legislative leaders naturally are
| hoping that Walton will weaken at
! the last minute, call the legislature
and fight it out with them, as was
| the case with Sulzer in New York.
! They pointed also to the Ferguson
case in Texas in this connection.
Ferguson called the legislature, and
| resigned almost Immediately, thus
| forestalling impeachment proceedings
| and now he is back again in the
policial market.
| In the event, however. that Walton
/ stands firm, legislative legal advisers
/ say that under the state constitution
! the legi stature has the power of in
! quiry and that it will be as legis-
! lative body of inquiry that it is in
| tended to meet.
| The determination to meet seems
| to have grown stronger since the
plan first was broached. but one or
| two of the older members are known
| family to have urged that if the
! members are turned back physically
! from the capitol building 1t would
| be better to disperse peaceably and
gather elsewhere. This argument so
! far has failed, it being set out that
/ a proceeding are accessible only at
! the statehouse and that much of the
dignity of the proceedings would be
| lost if the. sessions were not held
| there.
| Continued on Page ?, Column ID
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