Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-01
BY DAVID KOONCE

ny DAVID hOONCE
Five years ago this month Judge
Clawson Williams of the North
Carolina Superior Court sentenced
90 knights" Of the Ku Klux Khan
to varying lengths of terms for
their part in a 12-month reign
Of terror that included kidnap-
ings. floggings and other acts Of
violence in the tobacco country
around Whiteville. N. c.
In imposing the sentences, Judge
Williams told the Kluxers:
THE day has not come in North
Carolina when q man has to bar
ucade himself in his home with
the setting SUM-"
In ensuing months. there were
other convictions - altogether
totaling more than 100-for Ku
Klux Khan activities in the Caro-
linas. 1t was believed that the
night-riding Khan. founded IS
years previously by Confederate
Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, had
been stamped out. Not only had
courts made it clear that Klans-
men convicted Of violence faced
certain prison terms, but peace
officers-unlike in earlier years
were showing little fear of re-
prisals for tracking down the
Kluxers. Too, community SYM
pathy stood united against the
xxx.
The Ku Klux Khan, however, is
being revived in the Carolinas. It's
new leaders. probably remember
ing the fate of their predecessors
/. are parading under the banner O.
nonviolence, but their harangues
at Kan rallies belle their peaceful
mlen.
0ren ThFeots
For instance. in Monroe. N. c.,
recently, xxx speaker told sew
eral hundred listeners that the
Klan would not stand for" inte-
gration-"voluntary or otherwise"
and added darkly: I'VE can muster
$4,000 men by the time the schools
start TO open this fall" He told
the crowd that the Second
Amendment to the Constitution
gives a man the right to bear
arms. II that Is what it takes"
Another North Carolina xxx
rally was told: "A Negro WIN
tries to get into white SWIMMING
pool amt looking for q bath; he's
looking to get killed" This same
speaker said the answer to North
Cardinals Pearsall Plan. under
which a minimum of integration
is made possible by the action of
local bodies. lis the Smith and
Wesson Plan" (Smith and Wesson
manufactures firearms).
In Piedmont. 8. c., there already
has been sporadic eruptions of
Khan violence this year, along with
a spate Of telephoned threats and
display of KKK's symbol of in
ttmidation. the burning cross.
The admitted head Of the Khan
in Greenville County, S. c., has
been charged. along with others,
in connection with the fiogging
Of Negro man who was baby
sitting for q white neighbor while
the neighbor visited his wife in
q hospital.
In Camden. S. c., a group of
hooded men last winter ambushed
Guy Hutchins, a white high school
band director. and fiogged him.
The Mayor of Camden, Henry
Savage, harshly condemned the
xxx and received a telephoned
threat giving him a week to re-
tract his statements or get out
Of town. He did neither, and the
following week, a cross was burned
on his lawn.
Rollies Follow Pottern
Khan rallies invariably leave
surrounding communities tense
for days. The gatherings are held
at night in fields. usually near the
edge Of town. They are opened by
q parade of Kluxers, sometimes
sitting uneaSily astride mules,
droning the KKK's anthem
THE Old Rugged Cross"
Once the hooded men are set
tied in formation. q speaker robed
in crimson or purple ascends the
Fundamentally it is the rear
Of a Stake-body truck. After the
opening prayer. the speaking be-
gins. Several speakers during the
evening will attack the many
bogies Of the xxx: The National
Association for the Advancement
Of Colored People, Walter Reuth-
er. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the
Catholic Church. Jews. Northern
newspapers, Harry Truman, the