KLAN S RECORDS VANISH IN FACE OF TERROR QUIZ
Floggers Linked to Killings
in Lovers' Lane.
Atlanta, Ga., March 23 [Special].- All records of n unit of the Ku Klux
lan In Enst Point, an Atlanta sub- urb, vanished mysteriously today as police sought to establish whether the klan was in a wave of night riding terrorism in which at least one person has been beaten to death and more than twenty others brutally flogged.
Police said letters requesting klan parades and the burning of fiery crosses, membership rolls, and other pertinent records disappeared with a small box kept in the klan s East Point assembly rooms.
Postocee Box Involved.
Investigators also revealed thay had questioned postal officials about a postoffice box maintained by the East Point klan, and further disclosed that the full membership of the klan never had an opportunity to pass upon re- quests for parades or burning of fiery crosses. These requests, Is was - tained, were acted upon by a commit. tee composed partly of men already linked with the series of floggings, It was reported.
Authorities announced that evidence has been uncovered strongly linking a band of floggers to the mysterious double murder of a young couple. Their bodies were found In a lonely lovers' lane near here a month ago.
It was also revealed that investi- gators have identified the maker of the lash with .which Ike Gaston, an East Point, Ga., barber, was dogged to death two weeks ago.
The lovers' lane victims were Sarah Rawls, 20 years old, and Benton Ford, 24, of McDonough. Ga. Their bodies bore marks of a brutal beating. In- vestigators expressed belief that the slayers killed Ford accidentally while administering a whipping and then murdered the girl because she was a witness.
Capt. Ben NV. Seabrook of the At- lanta police Indentlilcation bureau, and Dan Duke, assistant solicitor gen- eral of Fulton county [Atlanta], said they have grilled one of the key fig- ures in tile flogging Inquiry and four of the suspect s fellow workers. Altho the officials refused to divulge names, it was learned that four of those ques- tioned testified that the fifth fash- ioned the medieval style torture whip during odd hours at the Atlanta es- where all are employed.
Used lit Other Attacks.
The lash, they said, was made more than 18 months ago. It has been identified in at least two floggings other than the fatal whipping of Gas- toll, It was learned.
Floggers have been terrorizing per- sons In the Atlanta vicinity for more than a year. In addition to the slay- ing of Gaston, they are known to have brutally whipped more than 20 other persons.
A special county grand jury will re- sume Its investigation of the whip- pings next week. Meanwhile, wit- nesses who appeared before the jurors on Friday and identified 14 persons as floggers are under special police pro- tection.
