The hooded, terrorist “night riders” of the Black Legion, whose members — said to number 135,000 in Michigan alone — are pledged to take up arms against Jews, Catholics and Negroes, were linked today to scores of murders in recent years.
Murder warrants charging 25 members with the slaying of a relief worker were issued today, while officials widened their investigation into the organization, which they called the “strong-arm agency of the Ku Klux Klan,” and prepared to seek federal aid in crushing it.
Prosecutor Duncan McCrea said prospective members of the organization are asked if they will take up arms against Jews, Communists, Negroes and Catholics. Admissions by members questioned, he said, showed that these groups were special targets of the secret society.
It is not known whether any of those allegedly killed by the Legion members were killed because they belonged to any of the proscribed groups.
“The Black Legion is an outlaw organization,” Mr. McCrea said, “and we are going to ask the Government to help us drive it out of existence.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
