Asheville, May 6—A civil war has invaded the invisible empire in North Carolina. Mountain klansmen, several thousand strong, are in open revolt against the present regime in the realm of North Carolina and about the head of judge Henry A. Grady, grand dragon, thunders of dissension roll, according to reports tonight.
Dissatisfaction over the handling of the state affairs of the order, of a special finance committee, for an audit of the state books late October, has continued to see the unabated, it was learned, and the result is that the third province representing the western end of the state has withdrawn its support and plans a state meeting in Asheville early in Jue to Which Judge Grady and his associate in the office will not be invited.
State Officers Fight Back
In the meantime the state officers have written letters banishing, in effect, the mountain klans because of alleged refusal to tur over certain property following the adoption of the resolution, the chargers of the organizations in the third province are understood to have been taken up pending adjustment of the matter.
The mountain klans continue to meet, it is reported, and preparations for a struggle to save the organization by ousting officers which have been the cause of dissension are going forward.
The klannish spirit of the men of the mountains is well known and the unity of the western part of the realm is unbroken, it is reported.
Strict secrecy has cloaked the activities of the organization in western North Carolina, and the bitter dissension that has swept the mountain klansmen into a separate camp has not appeared on the surface.
Resolutions Adopted
Decision to come out in the open with charges of mismanagement was reached at a recent meeting of Asheville Klan No. 40, it is understood, and at that time resolutions meeting forth in a very pointed manner the contentions of the mountain men were unanimously adopted and have since been sent to every local organization of the klan in North Carolina.
Repeated demands upon Judge Henry A. Grady and C.C. McIlwain, grand klaliff [Titan?], for an accounting of the realm funds have been made, it is alleged in these resolutions, which further charge that these demands were made by service men, lecturers and other klansmen at the kloreo in annual session at Raleigh last October.
It is further set forth that the report of the grand kligraph showed that the books of the realm were more than $6,000 out of balance and that subsequently a committee was appointed to investigate and report. The resolutions then allege that the committee was refused the books of the realm and that no intelligent audit could be made.
In concluding, the local klan deplores the situation that has arisen and condemns the attitude alleged to have been taken by Judge Grady in the matter. Decision to continue meetings of the mountain klans plans for a provincial meeting to precede the state meeting here in June, and other details of working out a solution are understood to have been set forth.
The immediate resignation of both the grand dragon, Judge Grady, and the grand klaliff [titan?], C.C. McIlwain, is demanded, and arrangements set forth for the broadcasting of the position of the organizations in the mountains is set forth in the resolutions.
Following the mailing of copies of the document adopted by the Asheville klan, numerous replies indicting support in the stand taken have been received, it is understood. The matter, so far as could be learned, has not yet been referred to the palace and nothing of the attitude of the national officers could be ascertained.
From page 3 of The Concord Daily Tribune, May 8, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-05-08/ed-1/seq-3/
