THE "BLACK LEGION"

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22889, 25 May 1936, Page 10

THE "BLACK LEGION"

AMERICAN ORGANISATION PUNITIVE MURDER (United PrcRS Association) (By Klectric Telegraph—Copyright) DETROIT, May 23. (Received May 24, at S p.m.) The police to-day exposed a strange masked organisation known as the "Black Legion," the leaders of which are charged with practising ritual murder. 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 have admitted that he was killed becnusc of the ill-treatment of his wife while she was an expectant mother. The organisation apparently follows the principles of the Ku Klux Klnn, attempting to enforce morality through vigilante tactics. To-day Poole's widow denied the allegations that he beat her. STARTLING ALLEGATIONS MANY THREATENED WITH DEATH OFF-SHOOT OF THE KU KLUX KLAN DETROIT, May 23. (Received May 24, at 10 p.m.) The police investigation of the "Black Legion" revealed to-day almost incredible details of its methods _of operation and the extent of its activities. The prosecutors of officials announce that at least 10 members of tho hooded organisation will be indicted for the murder of Poole, who, it now appears, was assassinated because he was a Catholic and because he had learned the orgnisation's ritual. The 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 reported to the police that they havo been threatened with death or otherwise It is intimated that it is now believed that any number of murders may havo been committed by the Legion. Furthermore, the police believe that the Legion is a direct offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan, which terrorised .parts of the nation a decade ago. The regalia and the ritual closely resemble that of the Klansmen. The" police believe that at least 10,000 Legion members are in Detroit and, perhaps, thousands more in other parts of the State. Like the Ku Klux Klan programme, the organisation is directed against Catholics, Jews, and negroes, and it appears to pursue this policy even more vigorously than did the Ku Klux Klan.