Swift Justice: The Southern Way (34 page)

Junior felt the hair in the back of his neck raise up. Oh shit, the train operator may have saw him. No, Junior thought that he was too far away. He couldn’t have seen him or the car, but this worried him.

“Oh really,” Junior said, trying not to sound panicky. “Has anyone checked it out yet?”

“No, everyone’s kind of tied up getting ready for the KOT meeting tonight. Are you going to it?”

“Of course, I’m going to it.”

“Anyway, no one’s check it out yet. It’s probably some drunk nigger … you know … that drank too much … you know … probably just laying down.” Finely paused. “You want to check it out?”

Junior definitely wanted to check it out. This way if he found some incriminating evidence that he missed, he could get rid of it. Plus, he could control the investigation. But, first, he had to put on an act that he didn’t even know where to look. “Well, where did they say it was at?”

“It was the train operator that called the FBI, or I don’t know how the FBI got a hold of it. They said it was by the warehouse area. So it was by the tracks by the warehouse area. Are you going to check it out?”

“Yeah, I’ll check it out, but I got to be at the KOT meeting a little before the start time, so I’ll check it out really quick.”

~~~~

Junior couldn’t believe his luck. He was so glad that he decided to check into the police station. He now had a whole new plan. Originally, he was going to be at the KOT meeting while the explosion occurred but stay safely out of danger. But now he had a better plan.

He left his pickup truck at the police station and took a patrol car. He would find his dad’s body and radio it in, but he would wait until about 10:20 p.m. to call it in. He checked his watch, and it was already five minutes past ten, so it was perfect timing for his cause. But all the key people would be at the KOT meeting, so he would instruct the police to interrupt the KOT meeting to inform them that the Sheriff was dead. Junior figured that it would take them about fifteen to twenty minutes to get there, so they would probably arrive shortly before the bomb was to explode.

The combination of the shocking news of the Sheriff’s death followed by the explosion would create certain havoc. The best of it all was that Junior would not be there and would have a good reason for not being there. Junior was ecstatic with his new plan.

He arrived at about 10:15 p.m. at the railroad tracks. He parked on the white side. He walked over the tracks and saw and few Negroes hovering over his father’s body. They looked up and saw him. Junior could see the surprised and worried look on their faces. Junior shined his flashlight on them, and they scattered away.

“Hey!” Junior shouted. “Get back.”

They were gone in a flash. Hopefully, they didn’t see Junior earlier when he dumped the body. Junior scurried down the side of the tracks to find his father laying on his back—dead.

Junior peaked around to see if anyone else was around. He nudged his father’s body with his foot. “Come on, get up, motherfucker,” he said. “What’s the matter? Can’t get up? How does it feel motherfucker?”

Okay, Junior realized that he needed to focus and get into acting mode. He ran back up the tracks and to the patrol car. Now, he would have to put on an act.

“Junior to Base! Junior to Base. Come in Base.”

After a few moments, “Go ahead, Junior. This is Base.”

“Fins, we got a major problem … my father has been killed.” Junior said this while whimpering.

“Oh my God! What happened?”

Junior continued the whimpering, “Some nigger murdered my father.”

“Oh my God! Where are you at?”

“I’m at the spot you told me to go to. Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!”

Junior figured that they really needed to call the morgue, but he would let them figure that out.

“Fins, you better let the Judge know right now,” suggested Junior. “I’m going to get my shotgun and kill some niggers tonight. I’m going to fuckin’ kill them all. I’m going to stop this madness. I’m coming by the station to get my pickup truck, right now.”

“Junes, wait, don’t do anything on your own.”

“I can’t wait any longer. They killed my dad.” Junior burst out into a fake cry while keeping his hand depressed on the walkie-talkie, so the dispatcher could hear his cries.

Leon was shivering for two separate reasons: it was a chilly autumn night and he was absolutely terrified. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He heard about Klan meetings, and many people in his neighborhood speculated about them, but
he
was actually at one. They hid well in the shrubbery, but Leon wasn’t sure how long they would go undetected.

He was amazed at the number of people and how organized they appeared to be. Starting at about 9:45 p.m., cars and mostly pickup trucks (many of them red Chevys), started arriving. It appeared to be all men. They would park their cars on the open areas to the side of the seating areas, get out and put on their evil garb. They each put on a full-length white garment that covered their whole body. Then they put on the white pointed hood that only revealed their eyes and mouth. Leon was amazed that hillbillies had such clean uniforms. It appeared that they were spotless.

They marched to the seating areas and took their seats. There was a lot of chatter amongst the group. Leon could sense a lot of tension.

Perry kept looking at Leon and would place his forefinger to his mouth to remind Leon not to make a sound.

They lit numerous torches that lined up along the seating area and some on the stage. The place was now lit up, and Leon could see much better. But this meant that the
Klan
could see much better.

Perry periodically took pictures, without a flash, and filmed some of the activities. Leon looked at his watch. It was about 10:40.

“Okay, let’s say our pledge,” the speaker on the stage said. He was speaking into a microphone with a large speaker in front of the stage. Leon was again amazed at how organized they were. If they found him, he and his brother were dead even if the FBI was with them. The FBI wouldn’t be able to stop the madness. These crackers were pissed.

Everyone stood up in unison and repeated the pledge together: “We are the Fraternity of Texas Klans. We believe in white Protestants. We hate niggers, Jews, spicks, Yankees, Communist, and Catholics. We fight to keep the power to the white people. We will crush anyone who tries to destroy our fraternity. God bless the Klan.”

Great, Leon thought. What a wonderful pledge—such Southern hospitality. There were three people on the stage, but their uniforms were different. They had some kind of round symbol by their chests. Their hoods were a dark red. The leader had a black cross on the top of his hood.

Everyone sat back down except the speaker on the stage. The other two people on the stage sat down on chairs on the stage to each side of the speaker.

The leader shouted into the microphone, “Brothers, I’ve called this meeting because our town is in crisis, and I know that you are all mad, and y’all have a right to be mad. And I am mad too. All of us on this stage are mad. We’re not going to sit quietly. We’re going to destroy the person or the people who have killed our brothers, our friends, our families. We will kill them!”

The crowd roared with approval.

“
But
, y’all cannot take matters in your own hands. The FBI is in town; the media is in town. You cannot take matters in your own hands. You guys understand that if you take matters in your own hands, you will suffer the consequences. You will end up like the people who were killed.”

Wow, Leon thought the leader was very blunt on what would happen to them if they started killing Negroes on their own.

“So do not take matters in your own hands. Do you understand, brothers?”

“Yes, Imperial Wizard,” they shouted back.

Leon noticed that Perry was filming the whole speech. He gave Leon the camera to take pictures of which Leon did as told.

“Okay, we’re going to need some volunteers. We are
not
going to call in the Texas National Guard. We don’t need any outsiders. We can handle this ourselves. We’re going to arrange for some groups tonight to create havoc in the nigger areas. We’re going to burn down churches. We’re going to burn down schools. We’re going to burn down their whole downtown area.”

“Yeah!” People cheered.

The leader continued. “We’re going to let the niggers know that they can’t go around killing our people. We are going to let them know.” Then the leader shouted even louder. “We are going to let them know. Do you understand, brothers?”

“Yeah!” They stood up, cheered, and clapped. There were punching their fists in the air.

Leon noticed that they were ready to kill someone right then. If they found him, he would be dead in a flash.

“Do you understand, brothers!” The leader shouted again.

“Yes,” they shouted in a frenzy.

~~~~

“Imperial Wizard! Imperial Wizard!” A person shouted from the back of the crowd.

Leon saw a policeman standing at the back of the crowd. He was standing by his patrol car. He must have driven down the road while the crowd was cheering. Leon didn’t hear him drive up the makeshift road.

The Imperial Wizard stopped speaking and gazed into the crowd. “What is it?” he said irritably.

“We just got word. The Sheriff has been murdered!”

The crowd fell into a silence.

The Imperial Wizard also stood in silence. “What?” he asked.

“I’m sorry to report this, Sir. Junior found his dad’s body by the railroad tracks on the nigger side.”

“That’s it, Judge,” someone shouted. “We have to kill the niggers, right now!”

“Yeah,” everyone shouted in unison and was starting to head for their cars.

“Boom!”

There was a major explosion on the stage. The leaders on the stage bodies flew into the air. The explosion appeared to hurt people sitting in the front.

Leon was in shock. This didn’t seem real. This seemed like a nightmare that wouldn’t end.

“Holy shit!” Someone yelled. “What the fuck is happening?”

“Everyone, get your guns and meet at the tracks,” someone yelled. “We’re being attacked.”

The crowd started dispersing to their vehicles.

Perry signal for Leon to follow him in the direction of Hall and the rest of the team, but Perry tripped on a log.

“What was that?” someone said from the crowd. “I heard a noise in the bushes.”

Oh shit, Leon thought. He was goner. Leon could hear footsteps running towards them. Before they approached the bushes, Perry sprung out from within the bushes and emerged from the bushes. Oh no, what’s he doing, Leon thought.

Perry came out of the bushes and showed himself to the crowd. He held his gun in his right hand and his badge, in full display, in his left hand.

The Klan noticed them and was irate. “You killed them. You planted the fuckin’ bomb.” They shouted.

“FBI!” Perry shouted, showing his badge. “FBI! Don’t make a fuckin’ move, or I’ll blow your head off.”

“We’re going to fuckin’ blow your head off,” someone shouted. “You killed our people.”

Perry yelled back. “Settle down! Settle down! Settle down!”

Hall emerged about ten feet to Perry left, holding his badge up and gun pointed.

Perry continued. “This is the FBI. Look, we didn’t do anything. We’re just here to watch. If you harm anyone of us, all of you will fry in the electric chair. The federal government will hunt you all down and kill you all if you lay a finger on us. They will even bring in the Army.”

Perry repeated himself. “If you harm us, you will all die. So back off! We were just here observing. We didn’t do any of this. We’ll help you find the killers.”

“Bullshit,” a person shouted. “We’re going to go on our own.”

“You do whatever you want,” Perry replied. “You just leave us alone. You understand? We’re going to leave right now.”

“Where’s the niggers that you were holding? Where are the niggers?” The crowd demanded.

“Never mind, the niggers,” said Perry.

“You guys can go, but the niggers stay,” said someone in the crowd.

Oh great, Leon thought. He prayed that Perry wouldn’t leave him and his brother behind. Leon shuddered.

“That is not going to happen,” Perry said sternly. “We’re taking them with us.”

“No, we want them!” The crowd shouted.

Leon was so grateful that Perry was sticking up for him and his brother.

“You don’t tell us what to do,” said Perry. “We’re the FBI. Now back the fuck up!”

The people stood still pondering their next move. Someone took the lead for them. “Okay, let’s take those that are injured to the hospital. The rest of you, let’s meet at the tracks.”

Leon stood there still hoping that they would follow up on this white-hooded person’s direction. Fortunately, they all scattered. Some of them gathered the bodies while others got into their vehicles. One by one, they started driving away.

~~~~

Perry and his team stood frozen as the Klan disembarked from their secret meeting place. It took about thirty minutes for the Klan to leave. Once the last person left, Perry exhaled and said, “Wow, that was scary. I thought, for sure, they were going to kill us.”

“Man, I couldn’t believe that they didn’t shoot you,” said Hall.

Leon only had one thing on his mind: getting back to his house to warn his parents of the upcoming riot. “Drive me to my parent’s house. We got to get there. We got to warn them.”

“Are you kidding,” Perry said with a slight chuckle. “If we take you over there, or if we even make it over there, you’re going to be dead. They want you so bad.”

“We don’t care,” Leon said, speaking for Deron as well. “We got to get over there to protect our parents.”

“Look, we can’t do that,” Perry said and paused. “Tell you what we’ll do, we’ll call your parents and warn them. Let’s get to a payphone. We got to call this in anyway.”

“Okay, let’s hurry up and get to a payphone,” said Leon.

“Sure, but first let’s discuss our game plan,” said Perry. Perry glanced over to Hall. “What do we do?”

“I say we should probably hang loose and wait until we get reinforcements in the morning,” said Hall. “We were lucky to survive tonight. We are outnumbered, and the Klan can easily change their minds and come after us.”