The second instance of admitted lawlessness on the part of the national
organization occurred at Pensacola, Fla., and was a particularly brazen
attempt on the part of secret mob government to assume to enforce its own
laws. About half past eight o'clock on the night of July 8, 1921, a
delegation of the local Ku Klux Klan drove in automobiles up to the cafe
of Chris Lochas, three cars loaded with Klansmen, wearing white robes and
helmets, while other cars, similarly filled, stopped on the corner of the
street. Three members of the Klan walked into the cafe and handed a letter
in an envelope to Lochas. The message read:
"You are an undesirable citizen. You violate the Federal prohibition
laws, the laws of decency, and you are a running sore on society.
"Several trains are leaving Pensacola daily. Take your choice, but
don't take too much time.
"Sincerely in earnest."
When the letter was handed to Lochas, Captain Harper of the Police
Department was standing inside the cafe, talking to the proprietor. Lochas
opened the letter, looked at it and put it into his pocket, and thinking
the matter a joke paid no attention to it. A few minutes later some
negroes, who had seen the members of the Klan and recognized them for what
they were, came into the cafe and their stories of the Klan caused Lochas
to examine the letter more carefully and show it to the police. After
delivering the message, the three members of the Klan walked out of the
cafe, entered their automobiles and the three cars drove away into the
night. The street was crowded at the time of the visit and hundreds of
people saw the men in white robes halt their cars in front of the cafe and
on the street corner, saw the messengers enter and leave the cafe and saw
the cars drive away. In addition to the police captain who was on the
inside of the cafe, a uniformed policeman was on duty immediately outside
the door, yet neither the police nor any person present noted the license
numbers of the cars or made any attempt to interfere with the visitors.
The _Pensacola News_ in an editorial printed July 9, 1921, said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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