The Klan Unmasked: With a New Introduction by David Pilgrim and a New Author's Note

13. Bigotry Before the Bar

166 THE KLAN UNMASKED The next morning I arrived at the Capitol bright and early, long before any of its offices normally opened. But when I approached Arnall's office, I found a grinning throng of wool-hatters, backed up by a number of armed state militiamen, standing outside the door. Hummon had been installed in the Governor's chair inside! I didn't have to ask-I could tell from the looks and smells outside. " How did Hummon manage it?" I asked Ira Jett, my Brother Klavalier who was very much on hand. "Hey, Perkins," Jett said with a triumphant grin. " Seems as how somebody switched locks on the door during the night! We're just waiting now for Arnall to show up. I want to see his face when he finds Hummon is in therebet he'll be as mad as a bee in a tar-bucket! " Taking J ett aside for a private "klonversation"-as confidential talks between Klansmen are called-I learned that the locksmith brigade had been led by Roy Harris, together with Marvin Griffin. (Griffin had served as Arnall's adjutant in charge ofthe state militia, but had been defeated for the post of Lieutenant-Governor by Arnall's friend Thompson.) Together Harris and Griffin had roused a locksmith from his bed, and under cover of darkness had switched locks and presented Hummon with the key. In return, Hummon had named Griffin to serve as adjutant under him. Now I understood why the Talmadge chieftains had been willing to call off their mob without a show-down struggle the night before! " I'm going in to congratulate our new Governor," Jett said, pushing his way through the wool-hatters. "I done a lot of work for Ole Gene, and for Hummon too." Meanwhile, the temperature outside the Governor's office rose rapidly in anticipation of Arnall's arrival. According to the grapevine, word had already reached Arnall that Talmadge had broken in. The question in everyone's mind was whether or not Arnall would call upon units of the state militia to escort him back into his office and eject Hummon. No one was more confused than the militia itself-the junior officers and rank and file did not know whether to THE WOOL-HAT PUTSCH obey the orders of Talmadge's "adjutant" Griffin or Arnall. The hour of Arnall's usual arrival approached.. " I don't think he's got the guts," one wool-hatter said. " Don't be too sure," said another. " I'll bet he's busy rounding up a military escort," a third man predicted. Meanwhile, more militiamen and State highway patrolmen -some of whom I recognized as Brother Klansmentrickled in to reinforce Talmadge. At last the electric word came, " Here comes Arnall! " The door to the Governor's office was hastily slammed shut and locked. Militiamen and wool-hatters merged to form a solid mass before it. Then short, stocky Ellis Arnall came steadily up the Capitol steps, alone. He marched straight into the mob as though it did not exist. It hesitated, then gave way before him, opening a path. Arnall walked up to the office door and turned the knob as he would on any other morning. Finding it locked, he knocked loudly. There was a titter from the wool-hatters. No response came from within (where the excitement must have also been considerable). Arnall knocked again, and rattled the door-knob. The mob and troopers closed in around him. " Governor Talmadge is busy, and you'll have to wait your turn in the reception room like other private citizens," Hummon's suave aide, Benton Odum, told Arnall. " I demand admittance to my office! " Arnall said. Odum repeated himself, and twice more Arnall demanded that he stand aside. Several troopers unbuttoned their pistols, and one was half drawn. Finally Governor Arnall turned on his heel and said to the crowd: " You are all witnesses to the fact that I have been forcibly deprived of admission to my office! " With that he pushed his way out into the rotunda of the Capitol, and proceeded to set up an "emergency office" in the information booth. 168 THE KLAN UNMASKED Asked for a statement by newsmen, Arnall said: " Last night, under cover of darkness, the military forces of the pretender, with the aid of a locksmith, executed a panzer movement and removed the locks from the door to...