AMERICAN ITEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1924, Page 2

AMERICAN ITEMS

(Knurr.us Tf.lkgrams.] ’ KLI* KLfX KLAX. | WASHINGTON, May 13. i The Senatorial Committee hearing the ease of the alleged fraudulent election of Senator Mayfield (cabled Eehruray 22, 1923) has brought Con-_ gress into the investigation of tho Ku lvlux Klim for the first time since the Klan’s modern revival. The hearing ' developed into a serious affair when women were ordered from tho com. mittec room, and a witness told ter. jiblc stories of tbe torture, the cruel'ty and the invisible government by the Kinn, especially in Texas.

I Former Ivlan officials described the ! lan espionage system, whereby ncigh- ' boar spied upon neighbour, and whore:by a few malignant personalities ! worked personal vengeance on Ijotli j whites and blacks alike, the latter be.

: ing subjected to unrelenting persccuI tion and intimidation. | One witness further described the j intricate, but effective, political organisation as maintained by the Klan, 'which, through military discipline, destroyed and n.adc candidates for var. ions offices. j Attempts are be.ng made to widen 'the .Senate enquiry into an investigation ot the Klan. Jn the elections both the Republican and Democratic Parties are adopting an anti-Klan policy at their coming conventions. v ILLEGAL WHISKY DEALING. XEW YORK, May 13. A telegram from Covington, Kentucky say j that a Federal Court juiy found Congressman Lengley of Kentucky, guilty of conspiring in 1921 to illegally transport and sell whisky, a> cabled oil March 27. The jury convicted only one of five co-defendants.

The maximum sentence is two years imprisonmiiiciit ami ten tliuosaiid -.do! solars fine, but tho Court intimated that the fine would be omitted. The charges arose from the Veterans’ Bureau Scandal, cabled on February 2'.). 'J bo defendants wero charged vvi'Ti conspiring to remove fourteen hundred cases of whisky, Langley being specifically accused of using Ida influence to have tho State prohibition whisky to bo transported by truck, t contrary to law.

iiio trial leacned a virtual impasse unlit two of ilio co-defendants suddenly changed their pleas to guilty, 'ihc Government then placed witnesses in tiie stand who were confessed members of Langley's su-cailed Whisky Ring. These implicated Langley in 'HeS l^

operations alleging that ho received largo sums for his influence in obtaining permits, adding that he received tho money supposedly as Loans, which he need not repay if lie succeeded in obtaining particular permits. Tlii'eo more co-defendants wero similarly sentenced, while tho remaining two will face another trial in tho autumn. The Court refused a motion for a re-trial for Langley, whereupon the latter's counsel filed notice of appeal posting a fivn thousand dollars horn! thereupon Langley was released. KAISER LEAVES HOLLAND. XEW YORK, 'May 13. Kaiser Willu-m of Germany and Ids wife. Princess Hormone left- Doom in Holland today for ITaabor in -Silesia, in tho oast of Germany. Ostensibly to spend a vacation with Princess H<-r----lnino's children. Tho news, according to a wireless report, broadcasted from Xauen and picked up by tho New Yeyk World, '