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Indictment of More Subversive Anti-semitic Elements Will Follow Pelley Trial

April 12, 1942
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William Dudley Pelley and George Christians, the two anti-Semitic propagandists who have been arrested and indicted on charges of sedition, will soon face trial, it was learned here today. It was pointed out that should the courts convict them, a legal precedent will be established which will make it easier for the Justice Dept. to proceed against other subversive elements with fair assurance that they will be sent to jail.

Although the Justice Dept. never officially makes public the names of suspects under investigation until after their arrest, it was learned reliably that, among others, these men are now under scrutiny by F.B.I. agents:

1 – E. J. Garner of Wichita, Kansas, editor of “Publicity” an anti-Roosevelt, anti-British, anti-Semitic publication which recently said that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was “probably provoked” and whose every issue accuses the Administration of lying to the people about the war.

2 – Court Asher of Muncie, Ind., editor of the “X-Ray.” Asher’s editorial “line” is very similar to that of Garner: anti-Roosevelt, anti-British, anti-Russian, anti-Jewish.

3 – Charles B. Hudson of Omaha, Neb., editor of a weekly called “America in Danger.” Hudson was jailed here yesterday on a charge of contempt of court by Justice Jennings Bailey after he refused to tell who printed cards sent through the mail advocating isolationism.

The Justice Dept., it was reliably learned, is also “very much interested” in “Social Justice,” which, in a more erudite manner, has followed very much the same editorial line as its less literate un-American colleagues. Coughlin ostensibly has retired from the active editorship of this publication, which he says is now owned and managed by his parents. Officials here, however, consider this arrangement a mere subterfuge and still regard the Detroit priest as the directing brains and energy behind the magazine.

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