Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1923-03-17
EIGHT KLANSMEN ON
GRAND JURY TO HEAR
. THE MER ROUGE CASE

klanSmen or their SympathiZerS COM
prize the majority of the Grand Jury
selected today to hear evidence regard
ing the torture and murder of Watt
Daniel and Thomas F.. Richards last
July and other outrages by hooded
bands in Morehouse Parish. At least
eight of the twelve jurors are authenti
caliy reported to be members of the
khan or aligned with it.
Captain j. x. Skipwith, Exalted Cy-
clops of the khan, sat in the front row
and heard Judge Odom tell the Jury
that the OATH to the State supersedes
the oath and obligation of any other
order or body and charge il to find anil
indict the hooded mob that killed Rich
ards and Daniel and sank their bodies
in Lake La FOurche.
j. e. Evans. farmer of Oakridge
was appointed foreman Of the jury 1t
could not be learned whether he is a
member OF the khan.
Other members drawn on the Jury
are c. Fl. Tayman of Mer Rouge, S. H.
Stevenson of Stevenson. G.. A. Allen
Of Bonita B. B. Williams of Oakridge
j. H. Jordan Of Collinston; George
Hayden Of Bastrop, E. M. White of
Mer Rouge; r. e. Bramlett of Collins
ton: F. M. Jones of Tillou; F.. e. Hope
of Bonita; and B. U. Hood of Bastrop.
The personnel of the jury Is regarded
as of high type.
A. 5. Reddick OF Bonita was the only
one or the twenty men summoned for
duty that did not answer to roll call +.
Judge Odom directed the Sheriff to
issue an attachment against him.
Judge Odom had intended to appoint
Reddfck Foreman. 1t was said that
Reddick had no connection with the
khan.
Attorney General Coco, Assistant At
torney General GuiOn and District At
torney David 1. Garrett were present.
w. Fl. Todd Of Bastrop and Percy San
del and Thomas Newton of Monroe,
said to have been retained by the Ku
klux Khan also were in attendance.
In his charge to the jury Judge
Odom said:
Il desire to call your special atten-
ton to certain violations Of the law
which hayesbeen more or less frequent
In Morehouse Parish during the last
year or more. / refer especially to the
activities of bands OF hooded or mask
ed men, who have on different occas-
ions kidnapped beaten and deported
clt1Zens OF the parish. and more espec
Tally the incident on the Bastrop and
Mer Rouge public road on August "a.
1922, when scores of citizens on their
way home from Bastrop were held up
five OF them kidnapped and carried
several miles away, where two of them
were beaten and turned loose one
tunerd loose without punishment. the
other two not having been seen alive
since. The incidents to which refer
are matters of common knowledge and
needs no further specific mention by
me. The details were fully gone into ar
the public hearing held here some
time ago.
Il call your special attention TO
and urge your most careful, thorough
and vigorous investigation of these
violations Of the law There are in
these violations involved principles
which are of more than ordinary con
Germ to us all, because in them there
is shown tendency on the part of Ger
tain individuals which If unchecked
Will result ultimately in the destruct-
ion OF organized society, of organized
government.
Under the guise and preteXt of as
sisting in the enforcement of the laws
certain individuals and groups have
taken upon themselves the regulation
OF the morals and the conduct of their
fellow-citizens. AT various times letters
nave been sent to the individuals CELL
surfing their conduct and admonishing
them to mend their ways. Some OF
these letters were signed: Vigilance
Committee and 'ku kluX khan
These letters usually contained a veil
ed or open threat of violence. if the
offender did not mend his conduct.
"At other times citizens have form
ed themselves into groups, RECALLED
themselves in black robes and masks,
bodily seized individuals who in the
opinion of the masked group or band
had offended the law or decency an
carried them to secluded spots and
there, in some instances. administer,
ing admonitiOns and Ieprimands and
In other severe beatings. In some in
stances the offending individual was or
derAd to leave the parish and not re-
turn.
THUS far have heard of no good
citizen who condones the conduct Of
the mob on the occasion of August "a.
But there are those, and among them
some Of our best citizens, who are. or
were at one-time. apparently in accord
and sympathy with those who were EN-
gagged in these activities generally an I
who continue to justify their attitude
and to justify the conduct of
the mob on the ground that the mem
hers OF 1t were actuated by the desire
and purpose of suppressing 1awless-
ness. crime and decency in the COM
munity; that the individuals punished
or deported as the case might be, were
inval iably undesirable citizens, whose
conduct either had not been or could
not be reached through the courts and
that after all these hooded and maske d
bands were doing real service to the
State.
I'm all these various activities there
is no case so far as / know where the
offender was first presented to the
court for correction and punishment.
but in each case these parties have con
stituted themselves the accuser, jury
end executiOners. 1t cannot be said on
behalf of these parties that they acted