Evening star., 1923-08-15
KLAN AND KAMEL|A
ILLEGAL IN n. Y.
Enjoined by Ruling as I'm
position Because of
Il Changes in Charter.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
ELIZABETHTOWN, N. Y, August
15.-The knights of the Ku Klux
Khan and the Kamelia are restrained
from acting as chartered and incorpo-
rated benevolent fraternal organiza-
tions within the confines of New York
state under a decision handed down
by Supreme Court Justice Staley last
night.
Supporting the contention of the
state attorney generals office. that
the incorporation certificates of the
twin orders Illegally were altered and
falsttied to give them powers of d
broad and indefinite scope" Justice
Staley granted the temporary injunc-
tion sought by Deputy Attorney Cen
eral Griffin. restraining the activities
OF the orders as corporations.
The act of incorporators was held
to be illegal and unauthorized" and
an imposition and fraud upon the
court, which cannot, under the re-
QulrementS of the statute, be tolerated
or excused" The names of the par
ticular organizations in the papers
We're replaced by the words: Mems
fraternal orders" and ''women's fra
ternal order" before they were filed
with the secretary of state. The
change, 1t was held, Increased the
organizations powers from a definite
Limitation to broad. indefinite scope"
Argue States Case.
The attorney generals office of the
state OF New York, through Deputy
Attorney General Edward Griffin,
argued the states case Maj. En-
NETT Smith of Binghamton. king
kleagle of the klan in New York state
and George Lepine of Unadilla, Khan
counsel, contended that the changes
did not materially alter the papers.
that the hlan and kamelia acquired
no broader powers and that the
changes had been made upon sugges-
ton of the Office of the secretary of
state.
The attorney general of the state is
authorized by section 1917 of the civil
practices act" said Justice Staley in
his decision, Ito maintain upon his own
information an action against one or
more persons who act within the state
without being duly incorporated.
The sole question involved in this
motlon Tor 4 temporary injunction is
whether the alleged membership cor
porations, the Knights of the ku Klux
Nan Inc, and the Kamelia, Inc, have
been duly incorporated in accordance
with the statutes of the state. 1t ap-
pears from the papers submitted that
on May 81, 1928, proposed certificates
OF incorporation Of the alleged corpora
tlonS herein referred to were approved
by Justice George L. Pierce of Buffalo.
The certificates. at the time of approv-
al. authorized the alleged corporations
10 exercise such rights. powers and
privileges as are now generally extend
ed TO certain fraternal organiza tions
specifically named in the certificates.
subsequent to the approval of the
certificates by Justice Pierce and
prior to their fling in the office Of
the cecretary of state, certain alter
atlons and deletions were made there
In whereby the particular organiZa-
tlonS named in the original certiti-
Gates were deleted and in place thereof
were inserted the words Mems fra
ternal organization in the Ku klux
hlan certificate, and the words 'Wo-
mems fraternal organization in the
hamelia certificate.
An alteration of the predications
OF the powers as set forth in its char
ter, increasing them from a definite
limitation to Il broad, indefinite scope,
is obviously one which effects a ma
terial change in the extent of powers
thereby granted.
THE certificates in question were
hled and are recorded, not in the form
approved by Justice Pierce but in
incorporators or some of them. The
statute clearly intended that a cer-
tificate of incorporation should be
approved in the form in which it was
filed and filed in the form in which
1t was approved To alter such a GER
tificate after its approval without the
consent of all the incorporatorS and
the approving justice, in a manner in
volving a material change. is not only
also an imposition and fraud upon
the court which cannot under the re-
Quirements of the statute be tolerated
or excused"