The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-10-05
ROCHESTER PAPERS THREAT
ENED BY KU KLUX KHAN IN
NOTES WRITTEN ON BED
SHEETS: EDITORS WARNED"

NOIES WRITTEN ON BEL
SHEETS; EDITORS WARNED"
So screams a headline in the Sep.
tember 20 issue of the Rochester
(Minn.) Daily Bulletin" The head.
line, you will note directly accuses the
Klan of threatening the Rochester
newspapers. A direct accusation in
all fairness should be fully substan.
tiated by facts. Now then, let's read
the article carrying the crushing
weight Of a bold, Fearless" charge
We give it to you in full as follows;
Rochester newspapers late Friday
afternoon were made the targets OF
alleged Ku Klux Klan attacks ano
threats in the shape of communica.
tions written in ink on pieces of cloth
cut from bed sheeting. The threat.
ening notes were entrusted to the
United States mail and they went
thru the local postofice, being post.
marked, Rochester, Mimi, Septem-
ber %, A p. M"
The letters were addressed "Roch-
ester Daily Bulletin, City, Attention
Editor, and Rochester Daily Post
& Record, City, Attention Editor
Both were in the same handwriting,-
big scrawling style. The envelopes
were cheap legal size affairs.
The texture of the writing material
was the same in each case. The hand
writing was identical.
Threats Are Made
In each letter the owner of the pa
per was warned that his publication
would suffer and the ones supposed
to do the local writing, particularly
any writing anent the Klan, were pos
itively warned to desist under penal
ty of being ordered out of town, OF
being made the victims of justice tax
en- into hands for which it was not
intended by the constitution and law
of the United States.
"If either one of these men write
another defaming article against the
Klan, they will receive a notice to
leave the city," the communications
read. "If they do not leave, God help
them, for he will take justice into ou1
own hands"
Authenticity Secuted
The Rochester papers are in no way
able to come to a decision whether
these are authentic communications
from a possible local Ku Klux Klan
organization or whether they were
panned by some sensationalist who de.
lights in hoaxes. If the letters are
really of Ku Klux Klan origin, the
local newspapers would be interested
to receive confirmation from some one
who will admit affiliation with the
Klan. Otherwise, they will be posi-.
lively ignored as are all anonymous
communications received by newspa-
per Offices.
The incident is given attention In
print merely as a matter of curren,
news. The letters, of course, viii have
no bearing on the conduct of the pa.
pers one way or the other.
XXX
Now that you, dear reader, have
read the foregoing article, it might be
we'll to study the scoop" somewhat
You will note that not single sen.
tence lines up with the headline. We
even read that "the Rochester papers
are in no way able to come to a de-
cision whether these are authentic
communications from possible local
Ku Klux Klan organization OF
whether they We're penned by some
sensationalist who delights in hoaxes
"Why under heaven, did Reiter OF
Beatty (of' the Bulletin editorial senc.
tum) then so wrecklessly write a
headline every I'm" of which is OBJ
viously a falsehood? We can't un-
derstand the minds that revel in vel.
low journalistic methods. The Bulletin
has stopped to editorial practices
which have no place in first class
newspapers.
THE PUBLIC is TIRED
The public is rapidly losing all faith
in the daily press, and the daily press
is entirely to blame. So often news