BLACK LEGION

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 139, 25 May 1936, Page 6

BLACK LEGION

MURDER CULT.

POLICE DISCOVERY. Reminiscent il Utotenoas Ku Klux Klaa. ENFORCING MORTALITY BY VIOLENCE. Press Association—Copyright. 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 murder. On May 19 the body of Charles Pooie, a young worker on the Federal relief project, was found shot near a suburban road. Police investigation revealed almost incredible details of the Black Legion s methods of operation and the extent of its activities. Prosecution officials announced that at least sixteen members of the hooded organisation will be indicted for the murder of Poole, who it appears was assassinated because he was a Catholic and because he had learned the organisation’s ritual. According to the police some members of the Black Legion admitted he was killed and said it was done because of the ill-t; eatment of his wife while she was an expectant mother. Pools s widow denied that he ill- treated her and an examination proved this to be true. Since the publicity connected with the Pooie case scores of persons have reported to the police that they were 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 Ku Klux Klon, 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 nation. The organisation apparently attempts to enforce morality through vigilante tactics. Like the Ku Klux Klan the programme of the organisation is directed against Catholics, Jews and negroes and the legion appears to pursue this policy' even more vigorously than did the Ku Klux Klan.