RITUAL MURDER

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 203, 25 May 1936, Page 11

RITUAL MURDER

Klu Klux Klan Methods Revived

A DETROIT TERROR

Police Unmask “Black Legion” Organisation

By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.

(Received May 24, 7.30 p.m.)

Detroit, May 23.

The police to-day exposed a strange masked organisation known as the “Black Legion," the leaders of which are charged with practising ritual mur ders.

On May 13 the body of Charles Poole, a young worker on a Federal relief project, was found shot near a suburban road. According to the police some members of the Black Legion admitted he bad been killed because of ill-treat-ment of his wife while she was an expectant mother.

The investigation of the “Black Legion” revealed almost incredible details of its methods of operation and the extent of its activities. Prosecution officials announced that nt least sixteen members of the hooded organisation will he indicted for the murder of Poole, who it now appears was assassinated because he was a Catholic and because he had learned the organisation’s ritual. Poole’s widow denied that he had mistreated her. and an examination proved this to be true.

Since the publicity in connection with the- Poole case scores of persons have reported to the police that they have been threatened with death or otherwise intimidated.

It is now believed that any number of murders may have been committed by the legion. Furthermore, the police believe the legion is a direct offshoot of the Klu Klux Klan, which terrorised parts of the nation a decade ago. The regalia and ritual closely resemble that of the Klansmen.

The police believe that there are at least 10.000 legion members in Detroit and perhaps thousands more in other parts of the State and nation. Like the Klu Klux Klan, the programme of the organisation is directed against Catholics, Jews and Negroes, and appears to pursue this policy even more vigorously than did the Klu Klux Klan