TO END TERROR
AMERICAN G. MEN CALLED IN
DETROIT, June H
Twelve members of the Black Legion are held without hail on murder charges for the “vengeance slaying ot Charles Poole,' whom members of this secret society flogged, then shot.
State and local authorities have intensified their campaign to wipe out this vicious society, which is believed to have caused 50 murders. r .
The confessions of three of the pri*; sonars, showed that, it was planned to flog and hand Poole before a. large ■audience of Legionnaires, but due to a, confusion .of plans lie was shot instead.
Prosecutor r ;M.cßae has asked the cooperation of the Federal G.-men to /.capture the ringleaders and destroy the hooded:, organisation.
Tvy.9 guai'ds at the State were summarjK: dismissed when, it jvgjs vealed that they belonged to the Legion; and, three city employees' were arrested as officers of it.
It was disclosed that members can never resign.
They signed a pact in their own blood swearing to obey without question the commands of thqir superiors, and even to torture and kill the enemies and betrayers of the Legion. Another version of the “blood.oath” taken by Black Legion initiates is said to provide for death to anyone who betrays its secrets.
According to the authorities, part of the oath reads :
“In the name of God and the Devil, the one to reward and the other to pun. sh and by the powers of light and darkness, good and evil, and under the black arch of heavens avenging symbol I pledge and consecrate my heart, my brain, my body, and my limbs, and swear by all the powers of heaven and hell to devote my life to the obedience of my. superiors, and that no danger or peril shall deter me from their orders.” Prosecutor Mcßae stated that members of the. Legion had planned to seize control of the Federal Government and establish a lI.S. dictatorship.
f “Of course, if America is to have a dictatorship, it slicmld be formed by nn organisation like ours rather than by the Pope of Rome!” lie quoted the suspect as replying. ' : “Apparently,” said Mcßae, “there rs no relationship between the Legion and recognised Fascist or Nazi organisations. With its open hatred of Catholicism, Jewry, and negroes, it seems to he patterned on the model of the Ku Klux Klan.” ''
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Bibliographic details
Hokitika Guardian, 13 June 1936, Page 6
Word Count
391TO END TERROR Hokitika Guardian, 13 June 1936, Page 6
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