William Dudley Pelley, Silver Shirt chieftain, erstwhile publisher of the now defunct Liberation, anti-Semitic weekly, who was recently indicted by a Buncombe County Grand Jury for alleged violation of the North Carolina blue sky laws, surrendered to officials here today. He was released on bond of $2,500.
For some weeks it was rumored that Pelley had been in hiding somewhere in Mexico. He disappeared suddenly when Liberation gave the death rattle and unpaid creditors stormed for payment. The Galahad Press, Inc., publishers of Liberation, was declared bankrupt on May 2 by Federal Judge Yates Webb.
The Silver Shirt leader had a long and notorious career before the demise of Liberation. He wrote popular novels which had a negligible circulation, was Y. M. C. A. secretary during the World War in Siberia, preached mysticism and other doctrines and finally became identified with the anti-Semitic movement in the United States.
Before going to the sheriff’s office, Pelley issued a brief statement through his attorneys, Robert M. Wells and Joseph F. Ford.
“Immediately on hearing of the happenings in Asheville concerning the Galahad Press, I left Cali-
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.
