Bulgin Handed $600 by Klan

From The Indianapolis Star, Monday, April 2, 1923: Last evening during the service being conducted by Rev. Dr. Ellwood Bulgin before a crowd of 12,000 persons at the Cadle Tabernacle, eighteen masked white-robed members of the Ku Klux Klan marched down the aisle, their leader carrying an American flag, to the dais where they formed a circle behind the Oregon evangelist and presented him with an envelope containing $600 (2021: $9,897) in 50-dollar bills and a letter from the “Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Indianapolis Klan, Realm of Indiana.” The letter expressed appreciation for Rev. Bulgin’s work and designated that $300 was for him and $300 was for the Cadle Tabernacle Association. The leader of the group presented the flag to the Tabernacle, and Rev. Bulgin thanked the group as the audience stood and cheered them as they left.

“Bulgin Handed $600 by Klan,” The Indianapolis Star, 2 April 1923, p. 1:4

'Cu Clux' Stirs War Mothers

From The Indianapolis Times, Tuesday, March 27, 1923: Rev. Daisy Douglass Barr, president of the Indiana War Mothers, resigned last evening after a number of gold star mothers had “strongly disapproved” of her reported efforts in organizing a woman’s Ku Klux Klan while attending to her duties as president of their organization. In her letter of resignation to the executive committee, Rev. Barr only mentions that “her evangelical duties and her plans to go abroad this summer made it impossible for her to give the proper attention to the affairs of the State War Mothers.” Alice French, founder of Indiana War Mothers, said a majority of the organization’s members “are not in favor of a woman’s secret organization to correspond to the Ku Klux Klan” and did not approve Rev. Barr’s “using our time and our organization for this purpose.”

“‘Cu Clux’ Stirs War Mothers,” The Indianapolis Times, 27 March 1923, p. 1:5

Big Money League Guided By Caution

From The Indianapolis News, Wednesday, March 21, 1923: Members of the Big Money League direct elaborate bootlegging operations for bringing smuggled liquor and dope from Florida and Georgia ports up the Dixie Highway to Indianapolis. Secrecy on the part of men higher up is essential and they stay far away from the small local bootlegger who gets his supply through a third, or fourth person so there is no chance in case of arrest of revealing the higher up’s name. Big Money Leaguers sit in their home using telephones with unlisted numbers to speak in coded messages with confidential agents of proven fidelity to negotiate deals. An agent has a customer list whose names may be recorded as prospective automobile buyers in case the list falls into the hands of the police. The buyer from the agent takes the chances.

“Big Money League Guided By Caution,” The Indianapolis News, 21 March 1923, p. 1:4