Streets, which earlier in the day had been festive in their decoration of flags celebrating the birth of the great emancipator, Lincoln, again became festive Thursday night in the glare of the ruddy torches which members of the Ku Klux Klan carried in their first public parade in Concord and presented an almost ghostly appearance as the white-hooded figures marched slowly to the Court House.
Following the parade, W.L. Straub of Kinston made a speech in the Court House before an audience which took every available seat in the room and occupied every available inch of standing room. In introducing Mr. Straub, W.C. white of Raleigh, who had charge of the proceedings, scored the press when he said that he represented an organization which had been “more abused by the press, and unjustly so, than any other organization since the foundation of the world.”
The parade, which was scheduled for 7:30 o’clock, was half an hour late. A crowd of persons, estimated at being over 1,000, awaited rather impatiently the parade. There were those who claimed that they knew what they were talking about, who said that there was to be no parade. Word was finally passed around that the hooded line had been seen going up Church street. At the intersection of Church and Loan Streets, the marchers halted and lighted their torches.
Silence fell on the watchers when the parade reached the square. First in the line came an American flag and directly behind was the “fiery cross,” about four feet in height and three in width, which burned brilliantly.
There were over 75 marchers in the parade. Interspersed in the line were banners and flags. The banners displayed captions which read “One Flag, One Bible, One School,” Make American Safe for Americans” and “We Were Here Yesterday, We Are Here today, We Are Here Forever.”
A silence with which the parade was greeted was continued throughout its march with one exception. When the banner bearing the words “We Were Here Yesterday, We Are Here Today, We Are Here Forever” passed the square, several young boys and girls gave faint cheers and applauded lightly by clapping their hands.
At the Court House, members of the Klan occupied seats on the jury box, and had chairs brought up to sit on inside the railing. The meeting was begun by reading five “verses” of the 12th chapter of Romans. This was followed by the speech of introduction by Mr. White and the main address by Mr. Straub on the aims and ideals of the Klan.
Just prior to the opening of the program, cards were passed among the male members of the audience inviting them to joint the organization. The cards gave a complete list of the things contained in the platform of the Klan.
From page 2 of the Concord Daily Tribune, Friday, Feb. 13, 1925. Was speaker H.L. or W.L. Straub?
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92074055/1925-02-13/ed-1/seq-2/
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