Edward Young Clarke

Edward Young Clarke was an advertising executive from Louisiana and the Imperial Wizard pro tempore of the Ku Klux Klan who devised the "kluxing" system of payments to the hierarchy within the Klan.[1][2] Along with Elizabeth Tyler, he helped to turn the initially anemic second Ku Klux Klan into a mass-membership organization with a broader social agenda.

Biography

In 1922, he stepped down from his position at the Klan.[2] In March 1924, he pleaded guilty to violating the Mann Act.[3] In 1940 he was arrested for failing to pay a $600 hotel bill, cashing a $76 worthless check, and the failure to repay $600 he borrowed from a Chicago woman.[4]

References

  1. ^ Lyman Abbott, Ernest Hamlin Abbott, and Hamilton Wright Mabie, ed (1921). The Outlook, Volume 127. http://books.google.com/books?id=J3XPAAAAMAAJ&q=kleagle+zarephath+young&dq=kleagle+zarephath+young. 
  2. ^ a b "Clarke Quits Post As Head Of Ku Klux. Imperial Wizard Pro Tem. Will Turn Over the Order to Col. Simmons on Nov. 10. He Scores Enemies in Letter of Resignation -- Says He Will Devote His Time to Private Business.". New York Times. October 5, 1922. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980CE1DB1E39EF3ABC4D53DFB6678389639EDE. Retrieved 2009-10-26. "Edward Young Clarke, Imperial Wizard protem, of the Knights Ku Klux Klan and virtual dictator of the order for several years, has just announced his withdrawal from all official connection with the Klan. From November 10 he will be merely a member." 
  3. ^ "Imperial Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Kustody". Federal Bureau of Investigation. March 11, 2004. http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march04/kkk031104.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-26. "Eighty years ago, in mid March 1924, Edward Young Clarke, an advertising executive in the state of Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court to violating the Mann Act (an anti-prostitution measure enacted in 1910). The fact that he had been caught taking his mistress across state lines, however, was just the tip of this federal case." 
  4. ^ "Seized in fraud cases; Says he's ex-Klan leader". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 12, 1940. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/466633822.html?dids=466633822:466633822&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jul+12%2C+1940&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=SEIZED+IN+FRAUD+CASES%3B+SAYS+HE%27S+EX-KLAN+LEADER&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2009-10-27. "Edward Y. Clarke, who said he once was a of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, was seized yesterday In his room at 4700 Kenmore avenue on charges of failing to pay a $600 hotel bill, cashing a $76 worthless check, and failure to repay $600 borrowed from a Chicago woman. ..."