Consolation, November 11, 1942

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Contents

Mobocracy "Takes Over" Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls 3

Judases of Democracy 4

Scene I. Little Rock, Now "Little Reich" 5

The Leader of the Pack 6

Who Tipped Off the Mob? 8

Scene II. Springfield, Illinois 10

One American in Springfield 11

Scene III. Nazified Klamath Falls 12

"Fighters for the New World" 12

"Good Citizens" of Klamath Falls 14

"Thy Word Is Truth"

Does Soul Exist After Death? 17

Defense of the Most Sacred Freedom 19

Germany's War Machine Sows and Reaps (Part 2) 25

Apologies Due the Beasts 26

Internal Conditions 27

Serfdom 29

Invention 30

Judicial 31

Thomas Works for the People 31

Still Some Bootleggers 31

Ludwig's Little Black Book 31

Britain Will Laugh 31

Negro Leaders Given Well-deserved Honor 31

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Notanda

A Persecutor Dies of Fire Burns

◆ G. T. Mitchell, the bigoted marshal of Croton, Ohio, is dead of fire burns. In the early part of 1941 Jehovah's witnesses visited the village and were immediately the objects of illegal attack by the ignorant and conceited marshal now dead. Without any right or any authority to do so he boisterously ordered the witnesses to get out of town, shouting so that he could be heard a full block away. He followed some of the witnesses, and grabbed one young girl by the arm, rushing her to his car. She left the car and went right back to her work. He tried to incite a riot, but failed. All he did was to make one Christian girl cry because of his profanity and his threats. In August of the same year Marshal Mitchell was burning grass with a blowtorch, when his clothing caught fire and he died of the burns. One less bigot left to be slain at Armageddon.

Retributive Justice in Oklahoma

◆ Noting the article "Got What He Richly Deserved", page 11, Consolation No. 575, issue of October 1, 1941, I have a little information that may be of interest, as I was present when the mob attacked, and later witnessed in that vicinity. Jack Fuller, whom the mob backed to lead the fist-fighting part, did not die, but came back to be the laughing-stock of the community. Also, the mobsters had four automobile wrecks on returning home, and the witnesses had none.—Lavonne Craven.

He Asked for It

◆ When the chief of police of Colorado Springs recently arrested several of Jehovah's witnesses he told them they would either quit their work or he would quit being chief of police. They told him they would not quit; and the chief has just had a paralytic stroke. No doubt the Lord overheard the conversation.

CONSOLATION

"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.

Volume XXIV Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 11, 1942 Number 604

Mobocracy "Takes Over" Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls

THREE American cities fall to the dictators! Not to Hitler, Mussolini or Hirohito, but to dictators nonetheless. Dictatorial fingerprints are the same the world over; their mark is plain upon three American cities. Three American cities, geographically American, go totalitarian; but doubtless they would say any resemblance to Nazi Germany, real or imaginary, is purely coincidental. The dictators' blitzkrieg against the "four freedoms" is on throughout the earth, and now it has struck here at home, from within. These three cities are totalitarian just as surely as if some unseen, gigantic hand had lifted them up out of the United States and set them down in Nazi Germany for three days; the conquest just as complete as if the Nazi swastika whipped in the breeze overhead, as if Nazi storm-troopers goose-stepped through the streets below. Democracy has been overruled by officials and mobs in Little Rock, Ark., Springfield, Ill., and Klamath Falls, Oreg.

While fighting for its life on many far-flung battle fronts against enemies from without, is democracy to be stabbed to death from within? On September 18, 19, and 20, demoniacal mobs in Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls deliriously shouted a bloody YES! Do the majority of you people in these three cities join the demonized chorus, or will you by your actions answer with a thunderous No?

Certainly only outrageous deeds could support such a heavy charge. What are they? Just this: Hellish mobs loosed to overrun these cities unhindered; property destroyed, cars and trucks overturned, telephone lines cut, assembly halls damaged, bonfires of Bible literature crackling and blazing in the streets; crowds of men, women and children assailed; children stoned, teeth knocked out, noses broken; Christian women foully cursed, brutally beaten and then robbed; Christian men feloniously assaulted, clubbed, slugged with blackjacks, knifed and shot; victims left bleeding, clothing torn completely off some, others left lying unconscious in the bloodsoaked remnants of their apparel; bruised and beaten bodies cast off the road to lie for hours unattended and indeed left for dead, and the contemptible Arkansas Gazette felt so sure of it that it plastered its front page with the headline, "Four May Be Dead"! In a later edition it carried many pictures of these brutally pummeled Christians, including the four it gleefully thought to be dead. Beneath the picture of these four sprawled grotesquely in the ditch where human devils had hurled them, this damnable Gazette viciously and cruelly says after discovering they weren't dead: "However, it developed that they were either unconscious or 'playing possum'." How great must have been the Gazette's disappointment! Such venomous insinuation would shame the most depraved, except the loathsome Gazette. Such filthy sheets masquerading as public-spirited newspapers yet catering to bestial mobs have no influence with decent folk, in Arkansas or anywhere else. The apostle Paul was stoned, dragged outside the city and left for dead; but he rose and continued preaching. These four will do likewise!

What did the police do to quell these outrages? Arrested seven of the mob victims, yawned, and said the incident was closed! In these three cities the local police made no arrests of mobsters, no charges, no arraignment before court; but rest assured that in these three blots on America during those three dark days these mobsters were identified, charged and convicted before the great Bar of Justice in Heaven, and that sentence has been passed, and shall be duly executed at Armageddon. They have been arraigned before the Judgment Seat alongside Hitler and other totalitarian-spirited devils, and though they may not be the "big shot" the one across the pond is, and may run in a different gang, they are in the same racket!

What unspeakable crimes provoked such violence? you ask. A Christian assembly! On September 18, 19, and 20, in 52 cities in the United States, over 80 throughout the world, simultaneous assemblies were arranged. Christians not knowing the Constitution had been shelved in Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls, these cities were included. The ones assembling were Jehovah’s witnesses, a group grossly misrepresented because of their conscientious refusal (in obedience to God’s law) to salute any flag. (Exodus 20: 3-5) Jehovah’s witnesses have deepest respect for the American flag, adhere to the principles for which it stands, give a pledge of allegiance to the laws of the nation; in short, render the worth-while and practical observance of all laws in harmony with the Constitution and God’s supreme law, as once stated by a federal judge. They favor democracy over any other form of human government, and hope for its continuance until God’s kingdom supersedes all human rule. It was in the interests of this Kingdom that the New World Theocratic Assembly was arranged. Millions, doubtless including the mobsters, hypocritically pray for that Kingdom; other millions sincerely pray for it; Jehovah’s witnesses pray and WORK for it!

Judases of Democracy

The FBI has publicly announced the unquestionable patriotism of Jehovah’s witnesses and condemned mob violence against them; but what care anarchistic mobs for such democratic agencies? In the name of Americanism they practice anarchism. Oh yes, they’ll salute the flag till their arms drop from their sockets, and immediately turn and show by their actions their venomous hatred for the principles of which the flag is the emblem. Maybe these flag-desecraters would not openly salute the Nazi swastika, but in actions they salute and grovel before that emblem of brutalitarianism and choose it as their standard to follow! They will salute the flag with the Judas kiss and then betray it to the methods of the modern totalitarian Caesars.

Despite all opposition, however, the assemblies were held. The "important" men, officials and others, of these three cities made it plain Jehovah’s witnesses were not wanted by them in their city. Pressure by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and the so-called "American" Legion caused the refusal of hall accommodations and even the breaking of one contract after another as they were signed. But the assemblies were arranged there anyway. Why? Because the Constitution of the United States grants freedom of assembly and worship to its citizens; because Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls are geographically still in the United States, though it may irk their "important" men; and, finally, because there must be honest people in these cities who would enjoy having a Christian assembly there and hearing the truths of God’s Word discussed. With civic leaders such as theirs, they are doubly in need of God's comforting truths. The Lord commissions His witnesses to preach these truths everywhere, even in these three "sanctums of the mighty".

Nineteen centuries ago like-minded men didn't want Christ, and mobbed and killed Him. Bloody Europe under Roman Catholic despotism didn't want His followers, and this unpopular minority came to America's shores. Now inquisitional violence has pursued and overtaken Christ's followers here, and temporarily destroyed democracy in Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls.

But in these cities there are others (who are themselves Christian) who do not hate Christians. The necessarily harsh words used in an attempt to describe the acts of these mobs along with conniving officials, Legionnaires, Catholic priests, and others repugnant to honest persons, do not apply to many people in these three cities. Such gestapo storm-trooper tactics do not meet with their approval, just as the Hitlerian despotism on a larger scale in Europe does not meet with the approval of many there. The people have a right to know the facts of these cases. In view of the capitulation of a spineless press to mob rule and their failure to publish true accounts, Consolation submits the facts.

As this lurid tale unfolds one can hear this guilty one say, "It's misrepresented," and that one gnash his teeth and angrily retort, "It's a lie"; but the FACTS testify, "It is the truth!" Let the guilty officials and the misnamed "American" Legion and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy howl! What mobsters or mob sympathizers say is of no consequence. These pearls of truth are not for the swine. They are for the honest, the sincere, the people of good-will toward God. They are for Americans in fact. Americans are not in mobs, nor in sympathy with them. Americans do not run in packs. Wolves do, and among such the Lord said He would send His witnesses as sheep to test their integrity.

But here are the facts for you honest-hearted ones; face them. They will speak, if you will listen.

Scene I. Little Rock, Now "Little Reich"

It is now against the law to be mobbed in Little Rock. Police, under the capable direction of Sheriff Gus Caple, are most efficient in enforcing this new unwritten law legalizing mobs. One must not disturb the peace of Little Rock mobs. The penalty, according to Judge Harb, is $25 fine, court costs, and thirty days in jail.

But to start at the beginning. Several suitable halls were refused Jehovah's witnesses because of American Legion pressure. A contract was signed with the Missouri Pacific Booster Club, which they broke. Travelers Field was contracted for with the Little Rock Baseball Company, with the result gloatingly reported in the Arkansas Gazette: "Earlier this week the Little Rock Baseball Company, at the request of members of the M. M. Eberts American Legion post, refused the society permission to meet at Travelers Field [the baseball company prefers 'playing ball' with mobs]. Several members of the Eberts post stripped signs from Witnesses who were parading and distributing literature in Little Rock, Saturday. They asked the police to bar the society from the streets, but were told police had no authority to take such action so long as the paraders did not distribute literature [the Gazette just said they were] or accost anyone."

The Legion didn't know how the new law worked as yet, that merely destroying personal property and stripping signs from the backs of the Witnesses was not sufficient evidence that their (the Legion's) peace had been disturbed, that the Witnesses must be mobbed and clubbed and shot before they could be properly arrested by the valorous Little Rock police. The police were willing, understand, but their hands were tied by a meager semblance of remaining democracy. This was on the 18th; on the 19th this "leaven" of democracy was purged out of "Little Reich" and the dictatorship under Fuehrer Caple burst into full bloom.

A mob of 175, armed with pipes and heavy wrenches, attacked eight Witnesses at a filling station on Asher avenue, opening the assault with a hail of stones and bricks. Arthur Light, one of the Witnesses, was hit in the back with a brick and dropped paralyzed. He was subsequently jailed and treatment for his injuries was denied. The mob stormed the filling station, demolished its equipment, and brutally beat the Witnesses. After the mob finished its grisly work, the police came, arrested five Witnesses, and refused to arrest any of their assailants. What caused the assault? The mobsters objected to a Bible lecture about God's kingdom. The trailer-camp residents who later made up the mob tried to drown out the talk by playing their radios full blast and aimlessly running a huge caterpillar tractor around in circles. The conventioners did not object. After the lecture the convention moved to the Country Club Hospital, leaving the eight men behind to clean the grounds and care for the equipment. Then the mob deemed it safe to attack.

The Leader of the Pack

And now, though the convention had moved away from them and five Witnesses had been arrested, they were not content, but, intoxicated by their success they recruited a larger force and followed to the new location, some twenty miles out of Little Rock. Eighty cars were required to bring the mobsters. Note, if you please, the occupants of the leading car, as stated in an affidavit by a Witness: "I had been appointed signal man at the main entrance. A priest with four bodyguards drove up stating there was a bunch of men forming down the road and they were drinking, several of them drunk, and he heard them say they were going to drive Jehovah's witnesses away from here. 'Now,' he says, 'if I were you, I would get the women and children inside, because they mean business. They are going to beat all you guys up.' He pulled down the road a block, stopped the car, and right after he left a clap was given, the signal for the mob to approach." Why didn't this priest face the mob, hold up his hand before them and cause them to disperse? That's the way the newspapers always paint their valor in quelling rioting strikers. If afraid to do this, why didn't he at least call the police, as a Christian would have done? Why did he stop a short distance away? The reason is, he instigated the whole thing and led his devilish storm-troopers to the spot; otherwise, merely driving along the highway in a car he'd never have known so much about the mob and their objectives. He came ahead to get the women and children out of the way because excessive injury to them would be too odious publicity for his witch-hunt. The Hierarchy are backing Hitler tooth and nail and favor his methods, regardless of their propaganda speeches to the contrary. This was nothing less than a modern crusade led by a priest and sanctioned by the officials!

This Witness further states in his affidavit: "The truck [driven by a Witness] drove up and they stopped it. I didn't see, as I was watching the two men after me, but shortly afterward I could hear terrible noises from that Witness and could hear them beating him, and Witness Hurd also was able to hear this. The newspaper photographer was along in the gang, second car from the rear." Perhaps this explains the pictures, looking like scenes from a German concentration camp, splashed all over Little Rock papers. Evidently this photographer was from the Gazette; for that paper boasted: "The [Gazette] photographer who accompanied the group [mob] into the grounds snapped a picture of the armed Witnesses immediately before the fight started. . . . Maybe it was loyalty to his newspaper, maybe it was appreciation of the dramatic, and maybe it was just plain damned foolishness, but Joe Wirges, Gazette photographer-reporter, rushed out in front of the attacking party to snap this picture of the embattled Jehovah's witnesses. . . . A second later, as the intrepid Wirges stepped back, a shot was fired, the attacking party moved in and the fight was on. . . . Most of those beaten were searched for literature, which was handed to the Gazette reporters. . . . Soldiers and army officers in some of the automobiles stopped to learn what was going on. They were invited to join the attack, but none accepted [they are fighting to preserve, not destroy, democracy].

The admitted "damned foolishness" of Wirges is that he would be loyal to such a cause as Fascism and the Gazette. Apparently the Gazette reporters knew all about the mob's plans, yet didn't report it to the police; or possibly did, so that the police could be conveniently absent. The noble Gazette applauds, saying, "The mob went about its predetermined program in orderly manner." A mob orderly! Whoever heard such asinine stupidity?

The Power of the Lord

Ten Witnesses, armed with sticks, held the gate against a hundred priest-led mobsters armed with clubs, pipes, blackjacks, knives, and guns. Several shots rang out, two Witnesses fell, one shot in the leg, the other in the hip. One of these was a 57-year-old man. The Witnesses' line held, however, and the mobsters retreated to the road. By the Lord's power His people won the decision over demonism, holding their meeting as scheduled. The odds against the Witnesses were ten to one, and the cowardly wolves, who had held back till the stragglers of their pack had come up to assure this numerical advantage, moved in for what they thought to be the "kill". Scared individually, 100 encouraged one another, with the aid of liquor, to assault 10 Witnesses; the anarchists, armed with guns, the Christians with insignificant sticks, but with the all-important power of Jehovah God. Jehovah gave the victory. The Gazette admits it, giving the account thus: "The battle started when about 100 of the pipeline workers, armed with guns, sticks, blackjacks and pipe, swarmed into the hospital grounds about 8 p. m. . . . About 10 Witnesses blocked the road about 150 yards from the highway, and the trouble started when the angered pipeliners started through. Six or seven shots were fired during the struggle which lasted about five minutes. The Witnesses swung heavy sticks and successfully resisted the assault despite their injuries. Their opponents retreated into the surrounding woods and back to the gate leading from the highway."

There they stopped cars and assaulted isolated Witnesses where the odds were more favorable, a hundred against one or two. According to the Gazette, clothing was stripped from two Witnesses and burned, along with Bible literature and the upholstery of cars overturned by the gangsters. All traffic on the road was stopped and car occupants were asked, "Are you one of Jehovah's witnesses?" If the answer was 'Yes' they were dragged forth and beaten.

No Witness from the Country Club Hospital could come out to give first aid to the wounded without being attacked. Here's the way in which a resourceful and devoted servant of the Lord, Clarence Bradley, aided a fellow Witness, as recounted by an eye-witness: "One of the bravest acts was that of a colored pioneer Witness who, in seeing what happened, stripped down to his 'natural suit', walked down through the woods to the place of fighting, picked up a Witness who was shot in the leg and carried him to the building, unseen by the enemy because of the night." Blaine Arnold, a Witness, was badly beaten over the head, his face gashed and big blisters raised clear across his back. As shown by a picture in the Arkansas Democrat, his clothing had been entirely torn off and his face covered with blood. He hasn't been arrested yet. The police finally arrived, but found no Witnesses to arrest this time, as most of those assaulted were under doctor's care. Plenty of the priest's lawless mob were about, but the officers didn't want THEM.

The next afternoon, Sunday, the police arrested two more violators of the new unwritten law of Little Rock, Clarence Costly and Fred Smith. They went to the filling station on Asher avenue, not knowing the Sunday meeting had been changed to the Country Club Hospital. They were summarily assaulted. Costly's affidavit states: "They got me off my feet, stretched me out in the air, and hit me about the head and shoulders and across the hips. Some hit me with their fists, and a woman, I know, hit me with a blackjack." The statement relates how Sheriff McDonald stopped the assault and called Sheriff Caple. Caple was going to take them away in his car and, the affidavit continues, "about that time a big fellow walked in and said, 'Now listen here, Sheriff, I'm an American Legion [the password?] and I run this barber shop here. I'm not going to have nothing like that around here. The best thing you can do, Sheriff, is to take them away.'" Caple and the officer with him [Aklin] gladly obeyed, vilely cursing their prisoners as they took them to jail.

The total arrested now was seven, all held without charges' being made. Here's an enlightening report on Dictator Gus Caple: A statement made by two of the Witnesses he hauled into jail asserted that he threatened them by saying he would be willing to string them up.

Who Tipped Off the Mob?

Later that day the fourth mobbing took place. It was on this occasion that some of the mobsters said, "The police sent us." The Assembly was scheduled to continue on into Sunday evening. The mob knew this. The evening session was canceled. The mob didn't know this. As the final work was being done preparatory to leaving, Sheriff Gus Caple was there. One Witness who had some responsibility in directing the Assembly writes: "Mr. Caple seemed much surprised to find we were preparing to close the convention, and shortly left for Little Rock [20 miles away]. About thirty minutes later the majority of the conventioners headed for Little Rock. . . . The mob was waiting on the Arch St. Road just outside the city limits of Little Rock." How did these devils know to be there at this time to continue their hideous rampage? How did they know the Witnesses were leaving early? Were they lying when they said the police sent them? You be the judge. It is reported Gestapo Chief Caple said he'd like to lead the mob. He didn't, because the priest beat him to it, but he flatly refused to stop it.

The highway was blocked, traffic stopped, and those who were Jehovah's witnesses were treated in the same brutal fashion as on the previous evening. After some time the state police arrived. One drunk mobster prowled about with a knife in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, doing his gruesome work. The police merely told him to "go home". No one was arrested. Here's a portion of the affidavit of one of the women, Janet Patterson, assaulted at this session of the demons' spree: "I met a car and the old woman in the back seat said, 'There she is!' They turned around and followed me and he cut me off. They dragged me out of the car. They were all round me hollering at me and slapping me, and some woman hit me over the head with a cane two or three times. Some of the men would have killed me but others sorta held them back and said, 'Let the women at her first, and then if they don't do it, we'll finish her ourselves.' They pulled my thumb back, spraining it. The woman who attacked me had a big goiter on her neck [so identified by other victims also] and her teeth were all stained with tobacco. I asked her if she thought the Lord would approve what they were doing, and she said 'Yes'. [See John 16:2.] They said something about getting the FBI, and I said, 'You can get the FBI or the law, either one, and turn me over to them'; and they said, 'It was the law that sent us!' They ransacked my car and purse and got my money [$10], driver's license, Social Security card, hospitalization card, and my hat. When they let me go they told me to get in the car and get out of town and stay out and not come back, but about that time the police came and they just told them to not block the highway and they didn't arrest anyone."

Days later Mrs. Patterson was still confined in bed with a black eye, battered nose and body bruises, hardly able to move. And the mob-shielding Gazette once said: "Only men of the sect were assailed." This newspaper never saw fit to air the mob's atrocities against women.

And the police couldn't identify any of the assailants. Four mobbings in two days by the same gang, and none identified! Were the police so unbelievably incompetent, or—? Mobsters bragged 'The police sent us'. Refusal of police to arrest them, and their alacrity to snatch up and jail the victims, substantiate the mob's boast. Little Rock and Pulaski county pay their police. The peace officers accept the money. Why? To maintain order and preserve civil rights by apprehending lawbreakers? Apparently not. To protect those unlawfully assaulted by mobs and arrest the mobsters? No. To protect the mobbers and arrest the mobbed? Apparently this is the reason they accept their pay; for it's the service they render. Surely that isn't the reason the people of Arkansas put them in office and pay them. Doubtless these officials would pretend to render services and accept pay for upholding civil liberties; they gain money under false pretenses! Nullifying the law by indifference and discrimination and wrongful application, they set themselves up as dictators as to whom it shall apply and to whom it shall not apply, as to who shall or shall not have freedom.

The Gazette quoted Sheriff Caple as saying he had given the Witnesses until 6 p. m. Sunday to be outside the county limits. The dictator speaking! Obviously the man idolizes Hitler's methods if not Hitler personally. It's these totalitarian methods that Americans hate, without or within, openly or in the hypocritical "fifth column" disguise of patriotism!

The Final Curtain

Two of the seven arrested Witnesses were convicted in Judge Harb's court, fined $25 and $6.90 court costs and given thirty days in jail. Oscar H. Winn, a Little Rock lawyer, had offered to defend the Witnesses without charge, as published in the newspapers. In response to an anonymous letter, this man went to the vicinity of the Asher avenue filling station and was mobbed and had to be taken to the University hospital. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Harry Robinson said one of his alleged assailants, "a man named Gwynn," who operates a barber shop, wasn't home when he called. He said there may be no charges and he "just wanted to make additional investigation". Gwynn was identified as a participant in the mobs assaulting Jehovah's witnesses, too. He's working overtime for Fascism. Of course, this time there were no charges or arrests made, as there were none of Jehovah's witnesses lying around battered up by the mob, to be arrested. Those incredible police could always identify the Witnesses!

One Witness in attendance follows his account of the violence with the words, "But by Jehovah's grace WE HAD AN ASSEMBLY, and we continue to pray that we may be found 'blameless in the day of our Lord!' "

Sheriff Caple said, “The incident is closed.” Closed indeed! He’s not the one who will dismiss this case! Jehovah God, by the execution of His righteous judgments at Armageddon, will ring down the final curtain on this revived Inquisition against His servants in Little Rock, Arkansas!

Scene II. Springfield, Illinois

‘Strangers and sojourners upon the earth, dwelling in tents.’ That is the picture given of Abraham and the other faithful men of olden times. That picture was literally fulfilled by those who are Christ’s, hence Abraham’s seed, at the New World Theocratic Assembly in Springfield. Visualize several acres just outside Springfield covered with over seventy tents, dominated by the huge tent of assembly in the center accommodating over 2,000 persons. This camp of God’s people had plenty of the antitypical demonized Philistines howling about, too.

But why tents? you ask. Doesn’t Springfield have any auditoriums? Yes, but it is like that other city that pushed the human mother of Jesus off into manger accommodations. A contract had been signed to use the Lanphier Baseball Park, but was canceled. Great sums of money had been expended by the Witnesses in extensive advertising; but no matter. Mr. MacWherter, superintendent who signed the contract with the Witnesses, said he had no authority to do so, had never before signed a contract of this kind. His keepers shouldn’t let him play with a loaded fountain pen. The Witnesses were referred to Frank Buedel, who substantiated MacWherter’s cancellation, as the authoritative one; but he couldn’t be seen. He was attending an American Legion convention in Peoria. These Little Rock and Springfield businessmen scrap contracts as easily as Hitler does treaties!

Mob violence against the Witnesses flared forth Sunday morning, September 20, when they were out inviting the people to the afternoon lecture to come in from Cleveland, Ohio. When some of the Witnesses were assaulted the city police told them to ‘go back to the country, where they belonged’ (the tent just beyond the city limits). Numerous mobbings took place, Witnesses were severely beaten—one suffering a broken leg—cars were damaged, and literature was burned.

Here’s a sample of Springfield’s city police, as shown in an affidavit by Viola Deutsch: “I was engaged in the street magazine work, about noon today, almost in front of the police station. I saw three men run in and out of the station and stand in front talking with a policeman. The three men had a flag and came and surrounded me and tried to tear my bag off, and one man reached in and tore my literature and threw it in the street. They ordered me to get in the car, but I walked across and spoke to the policeman who witnessed the affair. He said, ‘Go into the station and talk to the sergeant.’ I went in and explained what had happened. He talked loud and said we had no right to expect the police to protect us, as we were only stirring up trouble, and that he did not intend to protect us. He gave me no opportunity to speak, but ordered me out of the station.”

Another group of Witnesses who were assaulted had obtained pictures of their assailants. The police confiscated the camera, and the affidavit of one of these Witnesses states: “This afternoon we went down to the station to retrieve the camera. The sergeant, who would not identify himself other than as ‘just one of the boys [mobsters]’, said, among other things, that if the camera wasn’t demolished when it was brought in, he would see that it was.” This disgraceful specimen, along with others of the Springfield police force, gave the “green light” to the mob, his “boys”, and is guilty of criminal negligence and nonfeasance.

When the Witnesses did go back to the "country", their tent, for the Assembly, the mob wasn't satisfied. They followed. Long before the lecture the mob began to form. It is reliably reported that the Catholic priests Sunday morning in their Baal temples agitated their blind dupes, and doubtless sent them out just as did the religionists in the days of the apostles. (Acts 17:5-8) About a thousand of these mobsters, along with more than two thousand Witnesses, heard the talk. The priests had better keep their blind ones away: their eyes might be opened, and then they'd turn on their former prison-keepers. (See Revelation 17:16.)

At the end of the talk one of the troublemakers struck at a Witness with a stick, and was escorted from the grounds. The mob surged forward with clubs, and the state police, who were indifferent as to halting mob rule, threw gas bombs on Witnesses and mob alike. As a result of the melee that followed, one Witness, Earl Windhorst, who was assaulted, was falsely arrested, jailed, and beaten again that night by the inmates of the jail. He was released next morning on $500 bail. Two of the gangsters, Rex Easton and R. Rogers, were taken into custody; but don't be so stupid as to think they were held. They were two of the sergeant's "boys"! That morning a cripple Witness, reported to have an artificial leg, was the victim of a cowardly assault, with the result that his other leg was broken. He was taken to the hospital. His assailants go free, in harmony with the ethics of Springfield's city police.

One American in Springfield

Sheriff Eielson was one peace officer there who did his job. He is to be commended. He is against mobocracy. (Can't you decent people of Springfield find more like him to represent you? His type of man seems rare around there.) In an attempt to dispel the mob, he asked the Witnesses about flying the American flag over the main tent, saying, "If you put a flag up, these [Catholic] Irish will leave." The Witnesses, of course, had no objections. It was done. The Associated Press reports this, accompanied with the lie that the Witnesses saluted it and that the "spectators" cheered and left. A statement of the facts was given to the newspapers, but they invariably prefer publishing lies instead of the truth. The Witnesses did not compromise in their conscientious belief about saluting any flag, but did show their respect by standing, and some applauded. According to federal law, during flag-saluting ceremonies FULL RESPECT is shown by civilians by merely standing at attention! But compliance with the federal laws isn't enough for those favoring totalitarian forced salutes. The AP delights in calling mobs "spectators" and "patriotic", and the devils didn't leave, as the AP account says, but continued their demoniacal howls far into the night. The Witnesses held their evening meetings in the main tent, circling all their cars and trailers around the outside as the old western pioneers did their wagon trains when resisting attacks by wild Indians.

Officials conferred with those directing the Assembly, urging them to cancel the evening session. Jehovah's witnesses did not quit, not being bluffed by the mob. One Witness writes: "By the Lord's grace, we stood our ground and Jehovah gave the victory. Most of the friends stayed till the close, and thus enjoyed the added blessing of the closing Assembly and were not molested by the mob when leaving the grounds, whereas many of those leaving earlier had to run through a barrage of rocks thrown by the mobsters."

After the last evening meeting Sheriff Eielson demonstrated, in addition to his love for democracy, his good-will toward the Lord by showing kindness to His servants. A witness reports: "Sheriff Eielson, of Sangamon county, co-operated in every way he could. When taxi service was stopped, Mr. Eielson made about twenty trips taking the friends to various depots from the convention grounds. By this time the police had succeeded in pushing back the mob (by use of riot guns) several blocks away from the convention grounds."

Nearly a hundred Witnesses spent the night in their city of tents, "pulling stakes" early next morning for their respective territories, determined to continue the fight against demonism until Jehovah's Armageddon victory cleanses the earth of all workers of violence.

Scene III. Nazified Klamath Falls

For the third nightmare in this gruesome drama of democracy's "black-out" travel "west, where men are men", but not in Klamath Falls. Why not? A heavy stone hurled by Klamath Falls sails through the air and smashes a little girl full in the face, knocking out her teeth and breaking her nose! There are other reasons. What's more, Klamath Falls dictators do not want any real men and women there. Jehovah's witnesses were unable to locate any suitable halls that would be rented to them. Finally, and as a last resort, a vacated automobile salesroom was obtained.

Little Rock launched for separate mobbings; Klamath Falls went "all out" for mobocracy in one big "putsch". Sunday, September 20, was "der tag". Briefly, here's what happened: The mob set up a war bond booth across the street from the meeting hall, played patriotic music, and vehemently urged the Witnesses to buy bonds. The Witnesses were inside listening to a Bible lecture. (Does this mob go to Catholic and Protestant churches during Sunday services and call for the religious flock to desert the services to buy bonds? The fact that they would come during a meeting to sell bonds shows they were not sincere, but there to incite trouble. Something strange and incongruous about those who sell bonds to preserve democracy, yet practice mobocracy!) The howling mob swelled to 1,500, rock-throwing began, followed by a futile attempt to storm the meeting. The rioters did not break up the Assembly as the "wishful thinking" Klamath Falls Herald and News claimed. One preferring Fascism to constitutional government started cutting the wires bringing in the talk "PEACE—Can It Last?" from Cleveland, Ohio. A score of witnesses rushed out to prevent this. Subsequently the wire was cut. Democracy-hating townspeople tried to force open with crowbars the now heavily barricaded door, to completely destroy freedom of assembly and worship, since the talk continued, though the wires were cut. It was being read over a microphone inside the building. Furious fighting at this door ended in defeat for the mob, who retired to the front of the hall. Literature and phonographs were piled in the street and burned. These devilish fiends favoring mob rule, called "patriotism" by the Associated Press, hurled stones and stench bombs, breaking the windows and injuring men, women and children alike.

For over four hours the Witnesses were besieged. During that time the modern crusaders pillaged and plundered, overturning and demolishing many cars—estimates vary from 25 to 200. The siege was lifted by arrival of the state militia, called by Jehovah's witnesses. The AP, which glibly lied against the Witnesses in Springfield, paints the Klamath Falls mob as docile and law-abiding, saying: "Peace was restored after Gov. Charles A. Sprague had appealed from Salem for the crowd to disperse." These anarchists were dispersed only by the decisive action of the state militia, who threatened to use their riot guns, and by no mere "appeal". The AP and UP both lied flagrantly; but why waste space with lies?

"Fighters for the New World"

Here's a truthful and gripping account by Ruby Morse, a Witness who was present: “About 1:30 the ushers, hearing a noise in the alley, opened the side door, and that was when the big rumpus started. I was sitting with the children about center front hall, and as the door slid open we could see fists flying, as well as clubs. Then suddenly the lecture stopped, and that meant the enemy had succeeded in cutting the wires. We could see the rear door slide open and then suddenly shut, about five times, and clubs flying. The Witnesses captured about ten of them. One was a former post commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was looking pretty sorrowful with one big gash across his face as well as eyes swollen shut, and, as Jim put it, ‘just a sample of what these New World fighters can really do; and, believe me, am I glad I had a privilege of taking part in it!’ It was wonderful to hear him say that, as before he just wouldn’t take his stand. [Just the day previous the Witnesses had enjoyed a lecture from Cleveland entitled “Fighters for the New World” and the Witnesses in all three of these demon strongholds certainly acquitted themselves as faithful and zealous ‘fighters for the New World’!]

“The enemy finally fell back when they saw how many of them were being captured, and as soon as all the Witnesses were inside they locked the door. Then the rock-throwing began real heavy all around us. While all this was going on we still had children trouble; so Gilbert took over the mike [the lecture had been finished] and told us, ‘This is what we’ve been expecting; let’s take it like Jehovah’s people should.’ Before many minutes we were all singing, ‘Who Is on the Lord’s Side?’ and ‘Give Praise to Jehovah’, and many other of the Lord’s songs, with Gilbert leading the singing—he that can’t sing a note. It was funny, and all the children laughed with me as they too joined in the singing [the singing continued four hours].

“The mob threw in a full box of burning kerosene rags. The children took it like brave little soldiers. Gay-Lea kept saying through her tears, ‘Mother, Jehovah won’t let His people be killed, will He?’ and that made us pray for His help all the more.

“The police were more scared than we. All women and children had been put toward the rear side of the building, with the men all around us. The enemy then threw in a large rock, which hit a little girl square in the face, knocking out her teeth and breaking her nose. By that time we were all ready to fight! Later a Marine sergeant came inside. This marine said he was for us; he had been outside pleading with the crowd to go away and leave us alone as we were minding our own business. Some left; very few: He said he’d rather fight on our side, as from the looks of things the Witnesses were clean, good fighters [the papers mentioned a Marine recruiting officer who appealed to the crowd to go home; few left].

“We were told to go home [after the militia had the mob under control], and on reaching the parking lot we saw more destruction. As far as we could see every J. w. car was overturned. As soon as the Witnesses got to the lot they began righting the cars, not saying a word. The militia captain, speaking over his loudspeaker said: ‘You Jehovah’s witnesses, please get in your cars and leave as soon as possible. We are trying to protect you and do our best, but please hurry.’ And here were some of the cars with tires stolen, cut; the cars they couldn’t turn over they had rammed the radiators full of holes, pulled out connecting wires, threw away tops of distributors, and put sugar in the gasoline tanks! [Some of the Witnesses were still stranded at the hall late that night, their cars a total wreck.]”

Following is another report by the one in charge of the Assembly, giving more details and exposing the conspirators against the “four freedoms”. The writer claims every statement can be proved in court. Here it is: “[During the rioting] a well-known doctor (we have his name) tossed a gallon jug half-full of ammonia and it burst on the concrete floor among the women and children [the chief of police, Earl Heuvel, stepped aside to let him do it] and the ushers had to fight their way with the children through this awful odor and poison gas, with the children screaming and the mobsters cursing and breaking glass and throwing rotten eggs, tomatoes and other things. The ammonia served a purpose against the mobsters, because they could not enter the building themselves; and that gave the ushers opportunity to get the women and children into the main building.

"During this time the ushers were in a gripping struggle with the mobs at the rear of the building. They caught the gangster that cut the telephone wires and took the hack saw from him and brought him into the hall [this "thing" and one other were caught red-handed and turned over to the police, who promptly released them to continue their sinister work!]. . . . All this time the chief of police and other policemen stood by and never tried to do anything, but finally the chief saw that he could get inside the main building and came busting in with another policeman with a sawed-off shotgun and paraded among little children and women, not trying to do anything with the mob outside. One policeman was standing in the main door and some one of the mob threw a tomato and hit him, and all of a sudden he drew out a special chrome-colored gun and fired; and that was the extent of the police resistance. About 2:30 the chief stepped upon a chair and ordered: 'Your convention is all over. Stop milling around and go home. It will make it easier on me; I'm tired.'!!! . . .

"The seven o'clock session was carried out, by the Lord's grace. When I was reading the 'President's Message' the chief appeared again and wanted the convention stopped. During that time another mob was formed and led by a well-known American Legion (Fred H. Heilbronner [the H for 'Heil' or Hitler?]) and went to the Kingdom Hall, at 201 East Main St., carried out counters, Bibles, books, phonographs, cabinets, went into the rear apartment, where ten pioneers slept, and took their clothes and carried everything into the street and burned it.

"It was well known that on Saturday night different lodges and unions met to stop this Assembly, and they had planned to storm the auditorium Saturday night but the gang got so intoxicated they could not get anyone to take the lead. The radio station here in Klamath Falls broadcast on Wednesday 6 p.m. by a commentator that a delegate called on police chief Heuvel and the chief said you can do anything you want to to Jehovah's witnesses. All this trouble seems to have been hatched with the city attorney [Attorney Carnahan was quoted in the papers as saying Sunday's measures against the Witnesses 'were effective'], city council, chief of police, the American Legion, AFL unions, and the Eagle lodge."

"Good Citizens" of Klamath Falls

This statement then identifies some of the mobsters as follows: Heilbronner, Legionnaire and draft board member; Harvey Martin, city councilman; Kenneth Gordon, AFL leader and of the Eagle lodge; Ben Gibson, insurance agent; Ted Case, draft board clerk; and Dr. Adler, the ammonia-throwing M. D.; and, as identified by the Herald and News, John Chase, former post commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars and now a police officer!

Comment on Klamath Falls is difficult, baffling. That citizens would have such a motley crew of Fascist-minded men to represent them is dumfounding. The people elected them; they are responsible for them. And the police had the ringleader who cut the wire dropped in their lap, and let him go! If it were possible Klamath Falls' Heuvel is worse than Little Rock's Caple, but it isn't. They are triplets—Caple, Heuvel, Hitler!

An editorial in the Klamath Falls Herald and News comments, saying Jehovah's witnesses asked for the violence; created a situation that caused this strongly patriotic American community to momentarily suspend law and order; that the townspeople's resentment could be understood since the country was fighting for things that made it possible for the Witnesses to freely operate; that it hoped Sunday's "incident" served a "good" purpose; and spoke of the "good citizens of such communities as ours". No American community suspends law and order, even momentarily; no one, not even a moron, could understand why people would resent Jehovah's witnesses' exercising freedom of worship and assembly because the country is fighting to preserve those very liberties; mob rule never serves a good purpose; and the only ones qualifying as good citizens of communities devoted to mobocracy would be mobsters, just as storm-troopers are good citizens of Nazidom!

Did that thick-skulled editor approve the "good citizens'" demolishing cars, burning Bible literature, making a hall a shambles, assaulting Christians and denying United States citizens one of the "four freedoms"? Did he, like the AP, think the "good citizens" were fired with "patriotism" when they went down and flung a heavy rock full in the face of a little girl, knocking out her teeth and breaking her nose? Just as sure as there is a God in heaven, a terrible vengeance will be wreaked upon such devils that make earth a hell! Such atrocities fill honest men with righteous indignation; how much more so the all-righteous Jehovah God. His King Christ Jesus said: "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea!" Rest assured the Lord has identified the one who threw that rock! And if all these atrocities don't make your blood boil it isn't red!

Are these things what America is fighting to save? Honest millions throughout the country emphatically answer No! But what do we hear from Little Rock, Springfield, and Klamath Falls? Silence. Literal stench bombs were smelled in Klamath Falls, but the far greater stench of decayed democracy reeks from these three cities and drifts over the U. S. and is foul in the nostrils of Americans. It seems fragrant in Germany; for Hitler has boasted this country would go from within. These mobs and officials would prove him right. Above all, the stench of mobocracy against Jehovah's servants reaches to the high heavens, will be traced to its source, and for ever extinguished at Armageddon!

The churches raise no protesting voice against this destruction of freedom of worship. Why? Because they are like the religious clergy of Jesus' day who were willing to subject themselves to totalitarianism, saying, "We have no king but [dictator] Caesar!" in order to "get" Christ Jesus. The clergy today would pay the price of accepting Fascism to rid themselves of Jehovah's witnesses.

What Shall the Answer Be?

It is strange that democratic people have totalitarian-spirited officials to represent them. Liking Jehovah's witnesses is not the issue, but right and wrong principles. You people of these three cities who love democracy and hate mobocracy, can't you see the injustice of it? Do you approve of it? wink at it? You cannot dodge the responsibility; you elected these men. You chose them. To do this? If not, then changes are in order. It's your move. The officials of Jerusalem, both in Jeremiah's and in Jesus' day, brought innocent blood upon the city's inhabitants by injuring Jehovah's servants. (Jeremiah 26:15; Acts 5:28) When Jehovah's Executioner makes inquisition for blood at Armageddon, He will find bloodguilt upon these three cities because of their officials. Will you let them sweep you into destruction with them?

Democracy in your cities has fallen. Will you regain the ground lost to Hitleresque usurpers of government by the people? Demonized men will try to intimidate you, but, remember, "the fear of man bringeth a snare." (Proverbs 29:25) Perhaps these three cities may be retaken by level-headed, honest-hearted, freedom-loving Americans who are not terrorized into silence by these cheap, pocket-size editions of Adolf Hitler! It is hoped so. It isn't too late. This battle to regain freedom must be waged by stout-hearted Americans. The fight must be fought in the democratic way, in the courts and other duly constituted bodies to safeguard constitutional rights; not by gangster methods under a cloak of feigned patriotism. Constitutional liberties are what Jehovah's witnesses desire to protect. And to do it they will fight mobs, "law officers," judges, the press and all others who condemn the innocent and justify the wicked!

Jehovah's witnesses knew the American Legion and Catholic religio-political groups and other admirers of Hitleristic methods did not want Christians to meet in these three cities, but the Witnesses are not interested in those who would have the country run from Papal Rome. They are interested in "sheep", not in "goats". Surely in Little Rock, Springfield and Klamath Falls there must be some of the Lord's "other sheep" who sigh and cry because of such abominable acts as herein described. If you live in one of these fallen bastions of democracy, and if you are of sheeplike meekness and desire to be gathered into the one fold of the Great Shepherd, then, by God's grace, Jehovah's witnesses will continue to visit you and give you opportunity to take your stand for the great Theocracy and against mobocracy! So doing, you will, until Christ's Theocratic Government replaces all worldly rule, be as "salt" to preserve the best form of human government ever existing at any time in any place, namely, democracy!

Will some people of good-will toward God be found in these three cities, or will mob rule make necessary the application of Jesus' counsel, 'Depart out of those cities and shake off their dust from your feet,' and thus bring divine punishment upon themselves worse than that suffered by Sodom and Gomorrah? (Matthew 10:14, 15, 22, 23) Will Little Rock, Springfield and Klamath Falls continue following in the footsteps of typical Sodom and Gomorrah, mobbing God's servants, 'not having even ten righteous therein,' and thus suffer fiery destruction at Armageddon, or will they repent as did the great city Nineveh, and be spared? Time holds the answer.

As for Jehovah's witnesses, they will continue serving the Most High, come what may. Jehovah is their strength and protection. Remember the King Christ Jesus' words: 'As ye have done unto the least of these my brethren, so have ye done unto me.' No man can bring just retribution for those vile deeds. Jehovah's witnesses have no desire to. From the throne of heaven comes in solemn, measured tones the voice of the Most High: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay!" His people wait upon Him.

Did It Just Happen at Pryor?

◆ Shortly after Pryor, Oklahoma, beat up Jehovah's witnesses a storm swept the town, doing $1,000,000 worth of damage, killing nearly or quite 100 persons and injuring 300 more. The Devil in his wrath at being cast out of heaven is responsible for such storms and woes before the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 12:12) It would be a very easy thing for one of Jehovah's holy angels to deflect such a storm away from one who had been kind to one of God's little ones.

"THY WORD IS TRUTH" —John 17:17

Does Soul Exist After Death?

NOVEMBER 2 is observed by religionists as "All Souls' Day". What is this thing called "soul"? A reading of the article "Soul" in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV, leaves it very uncertain and foggy as to exactly what a soul is. It says: "Origen taught the pre-existence of the soul. Terrestrial life is a punishment and a remedy for pre-natal sin. 'Soul' is properly degraded spirit: flesh is a condition of alienation and bondage. . . . Spirit, however, finite spirit, can exist only in a body, albeit of a glorious and ethereal nature." It says further: "The mutual compenetration of soul and body in their activities is just what Catholic philosophy (anticipating positive science) had taught for centuries. Man is two and one, a divisible but a vital unity."

The only authority on soul is the written Word of the great Creator of souls, namely, the sacred Bible. It clearly answers the question, Does soul exist after death? Against what did God manifest His justice after man's original transgression in Eden? Did man's Creator sentence the body of man or the soul to death? Is religion true in teaching that the soul of man is immortal? and if so, how could God put it to death?

It is helpful to define terms before attempting to discuss them. The definition given should be supported by proof from the Bible. Let us do this before answering the question here asked.

"Immortal" applies to that which can not die or something that can not be destroyed in death. "Soul," as referring to man, means a moving, breathing, sentient creature, that is, a creature possessing faculties and using them. To understand whether a soul is immortal or not it is first essential that we determine from the Bible what constitutes a human soul. The Creator's Word, at Genesis 2:7, reads: "The LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Hence the word soul is here equal in meaning with the words "creature" and "man". The dust out of which the Lord God Jehovah formed man's body was not conscious; it had no life in it. After God had used the elements of the earth to form the body, He breathed into its nostrils the breath of lives, which breath animated the body, caused the lungs to begin to work, and sent the blood tingling through the arteries of the body and returning through the veins. Therefore there resulted a moving, breathing, sentient creature, a man, which is a soul. There was no "pre-existence of the soul", such as the Alexandrian scholar, Origen, claimed. Man's body aside from the breath does not constitute the soul; but it requires the uniting of the breath with the body to constitute the human soul. And when the breath separates from the body the living soul no longer exists. The Holy Scriptures do not say that God breathed into man's body immortality, or a spark of His own person, but merely that the soul resulted by animating with breath the human body after it had been created. Such animation, therefore, resulted from the breath of lives which God breathed into the nostrils.

As an illustration, a locomotive may be used. It stands upon the railroad track with no fire in the box, no water in the boiler, hence no steam. It is spoken of as a dead engine. Then the steam is produced by heating the water and is forced into the cylinders of the engine, the throttle being open, and the locomotive moves. Withdraw the steam and it stops. Of course, the locomotive is not equipped with any brain and hence needs a man at the throttle.

As to the human soul: When the body was formed it would be inanimate and inactive while without breath. When the breath of life was breathed by God’s power into the nostrils and the body organs began to functionate, man was then a breathing creature, hence “a living soul”. When he ceased to breathe he was dead.

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