KU KLUX KLAN TERROR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 7

KU KLUX KLAN TERROR.

BECRET WORK IN TEXAS. KLAN ENTERS RELIGIOUS WAR. Texas Is a hot-bed of tbe dreaded Ku Klux Klan, -(hose machinations have been ' making such sensational' reading in the newspapers lately. In the Southern States the negro Is a special object of the Klan's hatred. In the Lone Star State, as Texas is called, the Klan, with its strength estimated at 175,000 members, has taken up the religious war and entered politics. Tbere the negro plays but an insignificant part. In tbe larger cities the Ku Klux have united the Protestants against the Catholics and the Jews. An incident at Houston during the fall campaign shows to what extent the Ku Klux Klan has become a part of the political life of that city. Local papers had stated that a certain group of candidates was supported by the Klan. Other candidates were described as antl-Klan. Knights of Columbus (a Catholic organisation) met and Indorsed the anti-ticket. Within a few days a meeting of Jews took similar action. An elderly Protestant preacher who was popular in the city called a mass meeting and rallied the forces for the Klan candidates. From that hour until the polls closed It was a religious war, and tbe Klan ticket won by an overwhelming vote.

The Texas Klnn does not stop at political conflicts. It takes part in the enforcement of law. Its first activities were directed against bootleggers, gamblers, and moral law violaters. A system of spies has been built up, and regularly and duly elected State and county officers accept tips from the secret investigators of the Klan. Men and women suspected of misconduct have been driven out of communities, tarred and feathered, or murdered by persons wearing Ku Klux disguises. One prominent business man who made a .visit to New York with a woman in bis employ was mutilated on his return to the State. Tbe Texas members of the Klan called on New York members for a report on the couple, and tbe drastic action of tbe Klausmen followed. Alleged bad men and bad women have been driven out Of the oil fields of Texas. Persons under the" Klan ban do not wait for formal notice to depart, but flee at the first Intimation that they are marked. In Texas one lawyer who joined the Klan had a rival attorney frightened away so he could get his practice. Religious hatred has become so violent in many Texas communities that all industrial enterprises are divided on Ku Klux and antl-Ku Klux lines. In little towns there are Ku Klux and anti-Ku Klux banks.