Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-17
DR.. EVANS SCORED
IN NEW STATEMENT
BY COL. SIMMONS

pretended friendship" to him until
elected imperial wizard Of the
knights OF the Ku klux Khan, and
then tried to throw him out entire
ly, Colonel William Joseph Simmons
Tuesday issued a statement declar-
ing he is still emperor of the khan,
in spite of everything his enemies
can do.
Colonel Simmons said DR.. Evans
agreed to a consent verdict in the
Fulton superior court, providing he
should be emperor of the Khan for
life, without salary, but should re
ceive 81 900 a month royalty for his
khan copyrights.
Despite this agreement, Lr.
Evans has now issued an unauthor-
lied order attempting to Danish me
from the I<u l<lux Khan of which
| am the sole founder" Colonel Sim
mons said. He assigned as an ex
cuse a request from several of his
grand dragons who, under the con-
stitution and laws of the khan, have
nothing TO Go with such matters,
The whole act is unwarranted, il
legal. and beyond his powers
Colonel Simmons emphatically de
MED alleged propaganda to the CT
feet that he has gotten rich off the
khan. insisting that he used all the
money that came III during his
regime for the advancement of the
organization, and is in limited cir
cumstances himself,
The statement follows:
Statement of Colonel Simmons
Il am emperor of the knights of
the ku klux Khan. Doubt it not!
"Dr. Hiram Wesley Evans, having
through pretended friendship to me
gained the position of imperial wiz
ard, has issued an unauthorized or
der attempting to Danish me from
the Knights Of the Ku Klux Khan,
Of which l am the sole founder. He
assigned as an excuse a request
from severak of his grand dragons,
who, under the constitution and
laws of the Khan, having nothing to
do with such matters. The whole
act is unwarranted, illegal and be-
yond his power.
The khan is my dream child from
my youth and I love it from every
good impulse of my soul. My feel
ing towards it is likened to that
of father for his child. He glories
in the normal development of the
child towards maturity, but he
would rather look upon the child
dead than prostituted.
For years l longed to give our
nation a Christian, Protestant, pa
triotic order to save the faith of
our fathers. BY calling it the IN
visible Empire" l meant an empire
in the hearts and minds Of men;
never a secret empire of government
within the United States. My loyal
ty to my country and my love for
its institutions and laws has never
wavered l have been made the vic
linn of unlimited personal vitupera-
ton and the khan the object of con-
tinuous misrepresentation. At first
| was slandered only by those with
out the khan; now / am ruthlessly
slandered by d paid methodical prop
aganda-oral and printed-by hlans-
men in name only who have not
caught nor care to catch the spirit
/ have sought to inoculcate. 7 never
intended the khan to be a machine
of personal violence or of political
intrigue.
Sacrificed Ali for Ideals
when [ delivered the khan to
Americans I was without funds to
press its growth, and mort gagged my
home to raise money to carry on.
AS fast as money came, that money
was spent in promulgating the or
der. l endured years OF privation,
poverty, hardship and arduous toll
without compensation. l have never
asked any compensation for myself.
To facilitate the work [ turned the
propagation department over to 9TH
ers and never received one dollar
from that source. The propaganda
that has been spread that L made
a fortune out of the khan is with
out the slightest foundation in fact.
II am today a man of very linn
tied means. I never desired to be
enriched by the khan. The money
facts are as follows: After the khan