The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-30

the Garden looked down from the gal leries on the delegate arena, and even yelled, references to the sklan brought ominous roars of mingled applause and disapprobation. flooding down to the convention floor. But as the league de bate went on the oppressive heat and the passing of the dinner hour thinned out the seried ranks of spectators and the officials decided to ge ahead.
 Extra details of police were put on duty, however, so that solid rank of blueconts, standing shoulder to shoulder, encircled the arena between the seats of the delegates and the galleries that slope up on all sides like the edges of plat ter. More officers were placed in the aisles of the delegate enclosure itself, and at opposite ends of the garden solid companies of policemen stood in ranks ready for whatever might require their attention.
 It was in this setting that perhaps the fiercest battle ever waged in na- tionnI convention began late in the eve ming. =
 Owens Opens Z Senator Owens of Oklahoma opened the debate for the plank submitted by the majority of the platform comnlittee, which merely reaffirmed the principle of religious freedom without mention of. the klan. The speaker soon found out the temper, of his audience, and he and those who followed him were greet ed by applause, sounding noisy pre- Jude to the scenes os9disorder that were to follow. :. William R. Pattengal1 of Maine; who sponsored the minority report from the committee embodying an out and out condemnation of the klan, tanned the mountain flames of enthusiasm by a plainly worded, direct arraignment of the order and challenge to the conr. age of the convention to arraign itself against klansmen and klan policies in every state in the union.
 Calls For Help
 But the conflagration did not burst forth in all its fury until Erwin of Georgia mounted the speakers stand and in defiance to the great majority of his delegation, e&lled for help from the oth- CT states t0 put into the platform a plank that would express directly the partyss. contempt for the mask and the flaming cross The cheering that ac- con1panied his return to his seat among his .sc0wling colleagues was turned into an uproar when woman carried the standard of Rhode Islandsdown the aisle and held it high above that of Georgia. One by one the other anti-klan states sent their standards to keep Rhode Is land company, and hundreds crowded shouting around the Georgians as they sat silently in their places. "
 The demonstration became parade with Erwin borne above the crowd on the shoulders of two delegates from other states than his own, and with the anti-klan standards following in a seething stream of humanity. Chairman Walsh pounded vainly for order; the compelling impulses of the delegates had broken their dams at last, andenoth- ing could have stopped and did stop them until the demonstration had spent sts course. -i%
 Twice during the speech with which Mir. Bryan closed the debate, the chair man came to his aid to restore order in the galleries, which had greeted with 'bOos" and misses his argument for omission of the name of the klan from the platform. But many in the gal leries applauded, too, joining with the delegates in directing the fight along it's roaring way. Once Senator Walsh threatened to- clear the galleries, but they did not take him seriously.
 Continuous UprOar
 The vote of every state down the long roll call was answered by applause, and the uproar became continuous and overpowering before half the delega- tions had recorded their decision Bit ter dissensions broke out in many of the delegations and in several cases the delegates had to be called by the con ventiOn secretary to determine who was telling the truth about the total. In the the Philippine delegation the po- lice stopped what promised to be a hard fought battle.
 Because of the confusion and the closeness of the result, Chairman Walsh directed the secretary to recapitulate the result by states, again the totals for half a dozen. states were challenged, and the delegations boiled. Delegates in several parts of the hall contested for recognition at the same time and screamed to make themselves heard above the. uproar in an effort to change their votes. One of those who changed was George White of Ohio, chairman of the democratic national convention com Eittee during the 1920 campaign. With drawing vote against the plank naming the klan, he cast one in favor of it.
 By this time the dying hours of Sat urday had passed, and Sunday had