The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-21

Emmons' statements about
ballot box stuffng and terror
ism were the "product of a
wild imagination" he said.
In the meantime, Gilliom was pre-
pairing to use Emmons' deposition to
dig deeper into Klan activities.
"Other high officials of the Klan,"
Gilliom said, will be called in TO
tell their stories. "They will be
questioned as to the means used By
their organization to dominate the
State through politics and the
espionage of the Horse Thief De-
tectiye Association" he declared.
Bares All Activities
No branch of Klan activity was
left unbared by Emmons. who
showed how his organization worked
hand-in-hand with the Anti-Saloon
League.
The work of the horse thief de-
tectives, an integral part of the
Klan, received high praise from DR..
f. F, Shumaker, superintendent OF
the Indiana Anti-Saloon League,
Emmons declared.
Klan speakers so would inflame
minds of members that in one in
stance James Stewart, a balloonist,
volunteered to drop explosives on
Notre Dame University, the witness
asserted.
Emmons told how tar and feather
parties against Catholics and ne
groes were proposed, to bolster the
rapidly falling membership of the
organization.
Evans Wanted Action
Hiram Evans, Imperial Wizard OF
the Klan, proposed In one interview
with Emmons to send 'gunmen into
Herrin" to win it back into the
ranks Of the Klan after the Staying
of S. Glenn Young, raider, EanmonE
said.
The Klan in It's heyday in 1928.
when Emmons became CyclopS Of
South Bend Valley, Klan SO, had
4,500 members, and today has but
133; it had State membership OF
179,000 adult males and 100000 won1-
en- and Junior members; and today
numbers less than 1000 members,
he said
Pressure was brought to bear on
Emmons, by w. Lee Smith, when
the Klan began slipping, not to
divulge the shrinking membership.
Political power" was the slogan
hammered home by Smith and
Evans and the way to political power
was through votes.
Crusaders" Organized
AS last desperate measure to
strengthen the organization, the
Crusaders was organized. Member
ship in this body was opened to for
eign born, white Protestants.
Regular Klansmen complained
that this was a forsaking of one the
principal tenets of the organization,
which provide membership solely for
native born, but Smith told Emmons
10 calm the boys down, because
"our strength lies through political
power and these foreigners also can
vote also"
Membership fee in the Crusaders
was $40. ut was a sort of jackpot
split" Emmons testified. II got 81,
the Rev. Donald G. Ford of .Michi-
gan City, head of this division, got
So; and the other Sc went to State
headquarters.
1T certainly looked like a graft
and members kicked about it,"
Wondered About Money
Internal strife appeared in the
Klan when the members began won-
dering what became of the money
they donated.
Membership fee was SIS, which
covered an applicants initiation fee
and put him in good standing for
five months. The Klaverns could not
receive one cent Of this money until
after they we're chartered.
Emmons said that there we're
1000 members in the South Bend
Klavern before the charter was
given the local. After the charter
was issued, the membership fe0
would drop to $40, of which the
Klavern received approximately half.