The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-02-29

had to wait an hour to be served at
| other restaurants.
1t should be noted that in cases
like these the effective strength of
| the boycott is far greater than the
Klan membership. This is due to the
| spread of information-or rumors-
about the man under attack which
bring in the support of many out
siders. These may be mere back
fence gossip, but they are more like
ly the development of whispering
campaigns" to a fine art.
A final means by the Khan in it's
cleanup is the laying of informa-
tion before the regular law officers,
| and bringing pressure to bear on
| them. This Is the only means OFF,
cially sanctioned by the Khan of af-
fecting conduct, and is being used
increasingly. The fund of infOrma.
ton the Khan gathers makes 1t ex-
tremely effective, both In inducing
the officers to act and i'm providing
evidence for them to act Oh. Ii Is
wholly cOmmendable.
In some parts of the country
there is a strong belief that even
though night-riding has stopped, the
Khan still murders men. Since no
case of the kind has ever been prov
ed. it is added that if the man de
tailed as executioner is ever brought
to trial, the Khan through it's influ-
| ence with law officers and jury sees
! that he is acquitted. cannot do
I more than report this belief. These
rumors are to be expected in any
section where shooting is common
and are current concerning any pow
erful organization there. Possibly
| they are sometimes true, though |
have never heard of one being prov
ed. If any Khan has been guilty it
has been perfectly successful in es-
Gaping Justice. But if the charges
are true they affect only about
a quarter of the present Khan,
for I'm the territory where the bulk
of its strength now lies I have not
found even a whisper Of violence.
The question of how much legal
officers favor Klansmen in places
however, a serious and universal one.
Most people believe that there is
little chance of a Klansman ever be
ing brought to Justice. This belief
has somewhat weakened since Philip
Fox was convicted Of murder In At
lanta; fncidently the growth of the
Khan jumped after this happened.
The opponents who had confidently
predicted that he would be freed and
had emphasized the control the Khan
was supposed to have over Georgia
courts found themselves caught In
their own argument. My own 0pin-
ion-I have met Fox and must admit
liking for him-is that the Khan
does not control the Georgia courts
and also that IL made no effort to
have Fox freed. But merely to see
that he was fairly tried. ! do know
that his friends hoped he would be
found insane-a plea frequent
enough outside Khan circles.
DR.. Evans declares that the Khan
does not try nor wish to control or
influence any court. The Klansman's
oath, he said, will not prevent his
telling the truth about his member
ship in the Khan or anything else.
To think that a Judge would be infu-
enced by fear of the Khan would be
an indictment of that official, he
says. and "there is no more need for
public official in the exercise of
his duties to fear a Klansman than
there is for him to fear the repu-
blican or democratic parties, IL as
much, because both parties are in
politics and the Khan is not"
In spite of this attitude and some |
vigorous efforts to convince law of |
ficers of It, there Is evidence that |
in Khan counties it is hard to get |
convictions Of Klansmen. One in
stance occurred at Macon, Ga, where
several men were on trial for night
riding, The first man up was &c