True Tales of the Ku-Klux-Klan

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 3 January 1931, Page 16

True Tales of the Ku-Klux-Klan

vital is the story of

the Ku-Klux-Klan, that evil secret society of America whose atrocities read more like the ghoulish ravings of a disordered mind than the sober truth, told by Mr Charles Kingston in his book, “The Bench and the Dock.” At its inception, the Ku-Klux-Klan was a young men's mutual improvement society, but after the American Civil War it became an organisation of cutthroats, thieves and blackmailers, who brought misery and desolation whcrcever they went. America was then the melting-pot of the -world, into which was poured the scourings of Europe’s underworld, the dregs of criminal refugees who creator a reign of terror in a vast district of the southern portion of the United States. The same postwar state of hysteria which affected ! the world after the Great War, held r America in thraldom at the close of the ) Civil W ar, and the Ku-Klux-Klan was | one of its most unpleasant symptoms. To quote Mr Kingston: “Those who came undei the ban of the society were iirst the recipients of a warning letter, and if this was ignored. a few orange pips, the ace of spades, or a rough drawing of a hangman indicated to the recipients that he (sic) was marked for death. After that the white robed figures, who workin silence, paid him a visit with the ghastliest results “Night after night parties of strange j white-robed horsemen rode about the; country, dealing out death and floggings to those whom the Grand Wizard had condemned for offences against his ! peculiar code. . . . 'Sometimes one i gang would hang live or ton men in a I single night, and flog as many more.” | j The author reproduces a specimen of | the extraordinary letters which the Ku-‘Klux-Klan sent to their victims: | K. I'\. I\Dismal Swap, llfh Hour. | I “Mene mono tekel upharsin. The. bloody dagger is drawn. The trying 1 hour is at hand. Beware! Your steps I are marked. The/ eye, of the Dark Chief is upon you. First he warns, i then the avenging dagger flashes in the | moonlight.—Bv order of the Grand I Cyclops.” " I Sometimes, dog eats dog, and Mr] Kingston relates a terrible story of the society’s vengeance upon one of its I members: “Another notable instance of tins relentlessness of the Ku-Klux-Klan was the murder of Donald MeAndrew, a Scotsman who had fought for the South, and who had once been a Grand Dragon in the K.K.K. MeAndrew was a fierce,

Terrible Fate of a Traitor

Found Strangled in a Cell

jealous and unscrupulous brigand, and before lie incurred the displeasure of his colleagues lie shared in at least 50 murders.

“Things became so bad that the oflieial detective force at Washington 'planned a. campaign against it, and an effort was made ?o penerate the identity of the head of the organisation.” A detective was sent to investigate, and he became a member of the 1v.1v.1v., one of the rank and file, known as Ghouls. He met McAndrew, and the two men got on exceedingly well with one another. After long manoeuvring on the detective’s part, he persuaded .McAndrew to betray the name and address of the Grand Wizard, for a price of a thousand pounds. “The .Scotsman yielded to the temptation, and in the bar of an inn promised that he would give the desired informat ion if the detective would bring half the promised reward the following night, the balance to be paid when the information had been tested.” Unknown to McAndrew, the barman was a member of the Iv.iv.lv., and he at once reported the forthcoming betrayal to the Klan. A trap was set in the woods where the Scotsman and detective had arranged to meet, six men being concealed behind the trees. The detective duly learned the name of the Grand Wizard, and a moment after-I wards the two men were covered by the | rifles of half a dozen members of the I K.K.K. “Then- was a pause tlmt lasted, not more than n couple of moments. Then McAndrew shouted something to the detective. who involuntarily turned as if to fly for his life. But simultaneously six rifles rang out, and the unfortunate man collapsed in a heap. .McAndrew, however, who was a born woodsman, look advantage of the momentary inattention to dart behind a tree. Ho had a pistol in each hand, and as the others came towards him he fired twice with each, and four of the enemy fell. “The other two kept up the pursuit, but the Scotsman was more than their match; when they returned to examine the dead and injured tiie traitor had Slipped tlirough their fingers. “When the Grand Wizard was informed lie ordered that; all the resources nf the society should be utilised to dost my M c Andrew. ’ ’ Despite the efforts of the K.K.lv., the! traitor managed to escape to Glasgow, j in Scotland, where ho passed as a seal japtain who had made suflicicnt money! to retire. After .12 months had elapsed he began to lose his fears of the ven-

geance of the society following aim so far, and as the days went by and nothing happened, he concluded that the Ku-Klux-Klan had forgotten his existence.

“He was in this frame of mind when, on entering his room in the tenement Where ho dwelt, he found the fatal pips on the taole. He realised then that the Ku-Klux-Klan never forgot, It was a theatrical way of informing him that his fate was sealed

“The agitated man rushed to the police office and told an hysterical story of the K.K.K., to which the inspector listened in amazed politeness. He had never heard of the society with the extraordinary initials, and lie regarded McAndrew as a madman.”

Me An drew realised that the sceptical j police would not afford him much protection. and lie fled to London, where lie rook lodgings in a crowded part of the Hast Hud. His new retreat was in a dismal street off Commercial Eoad, I Whitechapel, but he was left in peace 1 for less than a month. “The secret so-1 cietv, which regarded him as the worst! of traitors, tracked him to Whitechapel,! and McAndrew, returning from a drink-' ing bout, found the ace of spades' pinned to his pillow. j “Nothing happened, but the wretched man, expecting to meet death at any) moment, could not rest or eat. i “It was maddening to be unable to { persuade anyone to believe his story about the American secret society. . .!

Whenever McAndrew spoke about, it at the local police station he was roughly ordered to clear out.

“Meantime, the K.Iv.K. were playing with him as a cat uocs with a mouse. No doubt, they had received orders from headquarters to make McAndrew die a hundred deaths ere lie was dispatched. And. if so, thov succeeded onlv too well.

“His end was extraordinary, and it resulted from what McAndrew thought was a stroke of genius. It occurred to him that the only place in London 'where lie would be safe from the Ku-Klux-Klan and their nerve-racking messages was in prison. When he thought of this lie sallied forth and assaulted tlx' first man in blue he met. He was summarily convicted, and sentenced to six months’ hard labour, and three nights afterwards lie was found strangled in his cell. A coroner’s jury returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane, but it is significant that only two colls away from McAndrew there was a seafaring American who was under remand charged with attempted smuggling.’’